Starkville – RJ Melendez entered the press conference room at the Humphrey Coliseum with red, watery eyes. He sat down on the podium next to Sean Jones Jr., covering his face with a shirt for a moment, and fighting back tears.
Mississippi State basketball just suffered an 87-82 overtime loss at Texas (17-13, 6-11 seconds) at the Humphrey Coliseum on Tuesday. After charging through a 12-point hole in the second half, the Bulldogs (20-10, 8-9) never took the lead in overtime, but were tied with 38 seconds left.
When asked why he was so emotional, Melendez quickly pointed to MSU’s regular season finale at Arkansas (18-12, 7-10) on Saturday (11am, SEC Network).
“Arkansas,” he said. “We’ve started going to the next one. That game is over. We’ve prepared for a victory on the tough road, and everyone loves the March. It’s beautiful to be part of it and look forward to it.”
Mississippi fell nine points, remaining at 3:52 restrictions, but closed half with an 11-2 run. Senior forward Melendez, who transferred from Georgia, was forced to work overtime when he stole an inbound pass in the full court media. A pass to Riley Kugel for an open layup led the game with nine seconds left.
Melendez scored 15 points on eight rebounds, three assists, one block and two steels.
“Our locker room was very calm to say the least,” said MSU coach Chris Jans. “We obviously lost a lot of games this year, but I know that it was difficult for us all to swallow.”
Mississippi couldn’t capture momentum in SEC play
On paper, this looked like the easiest stretch on the Mississippi SEC schedule. They concluded the regular season with their opponents, who ended their third consecutive game. This could be the perfect crescendo to the SEC and NCAA tournaments, as this was the first time since mid-December.
“This is March, right?” Jans said. “That’s what everyone is looking for.”
MSU looked after the business in an 81-69 victory over LSU on March 1 after a 38-point loss in Alabama, but stumbled again against Texas.
This is another example of MSU not being able to tie victory in SEC play. We have not lost three consecutive meeting games, but we have not won three consecutive meeting games. They put down the DUD every time the Bulldogs seemed to turn the corner, like consecutive ranked victories over Ole Miss and Texas A&M two weeks ago.
“I was hoping to win consecutive games at home and gain momentum in the final road meeting. “What these kids have shown to me, especially this group, their mental strength, resilience and belief in each other. I know they’re going to reorganize and prepare for their final road trip before Nashville.”
Sam Skiller is a Mississippi Beat Reporter for Clarion Leisure. Email him at ssklar @gannett.com and follow him at x @sklarsam_.
