State Has Bounce In Its Step In Nashville
March 11, 2025 | Men's Basketball, Joel Coleman
Dawgs' resilience continues to shine through.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The basketballs were raining down inside the Bridgestone Arena late Tuesday afternoon.
Mississippi State was completing its shootaround in Nashville ahead of the team's Southeastern Conference Tournament opener against LSU coming up on Wednesday. The workout concluded with pretty much every Bulldog firing up a midcourt shot or two or three or more until finally…
SWISH.
Jeremy Foumena put one through and celebrated as though he'd just made a buzzer beater that'd allowed his team to cut down the nets.
It was a cool scene. It was fun. It might not have been what some would expect given how the regular season didn't conclude the way MSU would've liked, but it illustrated what head coach Chris Jans has insisted all along. He's guiding a tough group. He's got a resilient squad.
They get punched, but they get back up. Nothing can take the bounce out of the Bulldogs' steps, and that seemingly bodes well headed into play on Wednesday.
"Some games hurt, and everybody knows that, but we know how to move on and just keep going," RJ Melendez shared. "We know it's a long season. We know we've got this SEC Tournament. We know we have the month of March. We have everything to play for in front of us."
If there are any lingering effects of last Saturday's heartbreaking one-point loss at Arkansas, or any prior setbacks for that matter, you won't see them when you're around this bunch of Dawgs. It doesn't guarantee success on Wednesday, or any day, but it certainly doesn't hurt.
Already this year, MSU's ability to keep eyes facing forward has pushed the Bulldogs to some of their best wins. The Dawgs lost to Butler and bounced back immediately by destroying then-No. 18 Pitt. After back-to-back defeats to Kentucky and Auburn, State got right back on its feet and earned another ranked win, this one over rival Ole Miss.
Other victories came right on the heels of tough results. State's second victory of the year over Ole Miss and the toppling of then-No. 7 Texas A&M came right after the Florida game.
Are you seeing a pattern?
"They've proven it to us [they know how to respond]," head coach Chris Jans said of his team. "[Through the year], they've rallied. They've come together.
"I even remember telling the media a couple of times this year, 'I didn't share this with the team, but I thought this particular game was a must-win for us.' And we won those games. So that's great evidence [our guys] have some tough-mindedness to them."
At the root of State's resilience is relationships, Melendez shares. The transfer, who has also spent time at Illinois and Georgia, knows a thing or two about the inner dynamics of multiple teams. He can't say enough good things about the culture inside the State locker room that enables the Dawgs to leave the past in the past and battle on.
"Since day one, the connection on this team has been special," Melendez said. "Everybody on this team loves each other. Nobody has an ego. There are some ups and downs, but we all know how to manage ourselves and respond and stay together. [Success] comes from staying together and we understand that. So, we just try to be as close as we can to each other and be great and play for one another."
Time will tell if Melendez and his teammates will once again rise to the occasion, pick up a huge W over LSU and live to play another day in Nashville.
One thing you can count on though is the Dawgs will be in the right frame of mind when the ball is tipped, living in the moment and ready to do whatever it takes to try and paint this March Maroon.
