In the annals of college basketball, Mississippi State's win over Ole Miss may be nothing more than a footnote.

But for Rick Ray and his young Bulldog club, it meant everything.

MSU snapped a 13-game losing streak with a 73-67 victory at home and upset the NCAA Tournament hopes of their archrival in the process.

"I'm really pleased with the effort and the way our guys went out and played on Saturday against Ole Miss," Ray said. "We had lost 13 straight games and our guys could have pitched it in, not given an effort and kind of packed it up for the season. But the guys came out and played hard, executed the game plan well and just went out and played with a lot of heart."

The animosity between the two Magnolia State schools fan bases spills over onto the hardwood as well. But according to Ray, none of the aspects of the rivalry were brought up in preparation for Saturday's game.

Instead, Ray elected to focus on the success the Bulldogs had on Feb. 6 in a 93-75 loss in Oxford. MSU scored 15 points above their average in the first meeting with the Rebels and Ray used that to motivate his squad before tipoff.



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