Cam Matthews looking to close Mississippi State legacy strong in NCAA Tournament
Standards and expectations have been changed over the last several years around Mississippi State basketball.
The team missed the NCAA Tournament every season from 2010-2018 before Ben Howland finally got the Bulldogs back in the Big Dance. When Howland left, a new standard joined and Chris Jans has made it an expectation again to get to March playing in, arguably, the biggest tournament in sports.
Most of the players on the Bulldog team have known nothing else than preparing for madness this time of year. Cameron Matthews is taking part in his third tournament in as many years, but he also knows tougher times.
Some of those tough times included the Bulldogs in the Dance when they were in the First Four in 2023 and on the bubble last season. This year, Selection Sunday was much less stressful.
“I’m proud of the fact that we’ve been able to do it three years in a row. That’s what we talked about doing when I arrived. We talked about building a team each year to get in March Madness,” Jans said. “That was the goal from day one. Certainly, the goals have changed. We want to win multiple games now. That’s what the charge is. We want more. We just don’t want to hear our name called. We’ve got enough guys that have been around long enough to understand getting there is awesome. But we want to stay longer and win games and go on a run.”
Matthews, Bulldogs hope to get first NCAA Tournament win in 17 years
The Bulldogs head into Friday morning’s game in Raliegh, NC as the No. 8 seed and will take on No. 9 seeded Baylor at 11:15 a.m. CT. It’s a State team that enters at 21-12 and they did get some better basketball played in Nashville at the SEC Tournament.
After a strong start to the season where the Bulldogs were 12-1 in top 20 in the country, there were some up and down moments in SEC play. The gauntlet that was the best conference in college basketball had a big part in that and that’s evident in the NCAA record 14 teams that were picked for the dance.
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State lost four of its last five games and had some frustrating moments before it got to Nashville. The Bulldogs did play some good basketball against LSU in round one and they were in the fight against Missouri before the game slipped away.
“With the conference that we play in, it really got us going into the tournament,” Matthews said. “Rest is the biggest factor mentally and physically. We’re just getting our mind right for the game. Our showing in Nashville really helped our confidence.”
Matthews heads into his final games as a Bulldog having played in a school record 166 games with 119 starts. He’s 16 points shy of scoring 1,000 points in his career and is averaging 7.2 points, 6.6 rebounds and a career-high 3.6 assists a game.
As legendary as Matthews career has been, one thing he hasn’t accomplished is winning a tournament game. He hopes to get that done this year.
“It’s definitely on our checklist,” Matthews said. “I’m just trying to leave the best legacy that I can, get some wins in March Madness and go out with a bang.”
