Chris Jans weighs in on MSU honoring 60th anniversary of 'The Game of Change' vs. TCU

On March 15, 1963, Mississippi State was supposed to play an NCAA Tournament game in East Lansing, Michigan against Loyola Chicago, which played four Black players in its starting lineup. At the time, however, the state of Mississippi had an unwritten law saying its teams wouldn’t play against Black players, which is why the Bulldogs left early for the game and avoid being stopped by authorities.

That matchup later became known as “The Game of Change,” and Mississippi State is planning to honor the 60th anniversary of the game Saturday before it takes on TCU.

“I’m looking forward to being a part of it,” Bulldogs coach Chris Jans said. “We’ve got four living members of that particular team to all be back in Starkville, and we’re certainly going to honor them. I’ve reached out to our people making sure that as much they want to be around our team to either address them or be introduced to them or whatever they would like and make them feel a part of this particular team.”

The plan to get out of Starkville and get to East Lansing had many moving parts. Mississippi State sent its trainer and five reserves to the Starkville airport around 8 a.m. in case someone was there to stop the team from making the trip due to a pending injunction. No one was there, so they returned to campus to meet up with the rest of the group and go play the game, and the injunction was later dissolved.

Ultimately, Mississippi State arrived in East Lansing to play the game — a 61-51 Loyola Chicago victory. But the pregame handshake at center court between Ramblers captain Jerry Harkness and Bulldogs captain Joe Dan Gold became the lasting image of what came to be a landmark game in college basketball history.

The game gained more attention when Loyola Chicago made a Cinderella run to the Final Four in 2018 and after a documentary called “The Loyola Project” came out last year. However, now in his first year as Mississippi State head coach after coming over from New Mexico State, Jans said he didn’t know much about it until he took the job.

That helped him prepare for the celebration.

“I certainly have done some research heading into this game,” Jans said. “I didn’t know a lot about it until I arrived here. It’s a remarkable story and it was a historic game for Mississippi State and for college basketball. We’re looking forward to celebrating that game on Saturday.”