WATCH: Coach Jans and Tolu Smith Media Session

STARKVILLE - Head coach Chris Jans along with consensus All-SEC forward Tolu Smith had an opportunity to meet with the media leading into Tuesday's practice to preview Thursday's SEC Tournament matchup with Florida.

2022-23 Mississippi State Men's Basketball Quotes
Media Session – March 7, 2023

Head Coach Chris Jans
Q: Obviously, you're no stranger to conference tournaments and this part of the season. Is there a certain routine you have preparing for that first game?
CJ: "It's different depending on the format of the tournament. Every conference has a different number of teams and a different format. So, this is our first go around for the SEC Tournament, and the format is different. So, we've got the one bye. We're completely focused in on Florida. Then, we know if we win what awaits us, but I don't have a huge routine about it."

"We prepare like we always do. Maybe a little more hands on deck of everybody [on the coaching staff] having some input into the scout, into watching our opponent more so than the regular season. But, other than that, it's pretty much what we do every time."

Q: When you look at the confidence level in your team right now, and when you enter this tournament setting, does it give you added confidence knowing that it seems like for the past month or so, every game has been, or at least felt like, a must-win for your team?
CJ: "Ask me at 2 o'clock on Thursday. I don't know. There's a lot of different ways to look at it. You would think playing in pressurized situations is always going to help. But, if you put on an opponent's cap, you could say that could also stress you out all year long. You could have some mental or physical fatigue, probably more mental than anything else, but I don't feel that way about our team."

"We're certainly disappointed with the outcome on Saturday [at Vanderbilt]. I think every team in America would love to go in off a win and have as much positive momentum as you can. But, at the same time when the ball is tipped at noon on Thursday, I think the outcome of Saturday's game will be the furthest thing from our mind. At the same time over the last 10-to-12 games, if you look at it from that perspective, we're playing our best basketball of the season. That's where you want to be."

Q: I know Florida is a little bit different because they lost Colin Castleton but is it a whole new scout or how are y'all approaching it this time around?"
CJ: "We played them such a long time ago. Certainly, we've watched that tape to try to glean anything from it. But, like you mentioned, they've done an excellent job of reinventing themselves. If you just open the laptop and watch their last 5 games, you wouldn't think they've missed a beat. They just are playing a little bit different style now."

"Kudos to Coach Golden and their staff for changing it up midstream. That's a big hit [losing Castleton to injury], but they've handled it flawlessly. Their kids are playing with a lot of confidence. They're playing more small ball lineups for obvious reasons. But, their strength of their team other than Castleton, has always been the number of guards that they have that can do so many things offensively and defensively. They don't rely on one particular player. They've got a bunch of guys that are interchangeable one through four. Now that they've switched up their scheme a little bit, they're even more positionless than they have been all year long."

"They're coming off two wins. So, I think it's impossible not to have a glitch when you lose someone [like Castleton] of that caliber, that productivity, that experience and what he meant for that basketball team. But, they're really good. They seem like they're really confident, and they're in really good space right now. What our guys can't do is look at them like 'Oh, they don't have Castleton. Now, it should be easier'. We're doing our darndest to get them to understand that's got to be the furthest thing from your mind. We need to focus on the guys that are playing, how good they are, what they're running and trying to do the best job we can to stop them."

Q: We were just talking to Tolu, and he was saying how these next few games are the biggest of his career. He's so excited for that challenge for him and the team. With you having success in conference tournaments in the past, is there any advice you've given to your guys?
CJ: "Not really, we've played in some great environments. We've had opportunities in-front of thousands of people when we were the team that didn't have all the supporters there. So, these neutral site games, have a different feel to them than going on the road. We've played in a handful of neutral site games, but obviously not with the stakes that they'll be presented Thursday and hopefully through the weekend."

"But, I'm pretty confident in our guys ability to focus on the task at hand, [of] staying in the moment, having some blinders on if you will and just competing. But, I can't really help them I've never played in the SEC Tournament, excuse me, never coached in the SEC Tournament. I've coached in a lot of postseason tournaments but not this particular one. I don't think they'll be a lot of talk about that leading up to the game though."

Q: I wanted to ask about your reaction to the accolades Tolu received yesterday. What was it like not only him winning the Howell Trophy and being named All-SEC, what has it been like coaching him so far this season?
CJ: "First of all, I've made it known many times what a big fan I am of Tolu Smith as a human being. He's just quality. Obviously, he's a great player. He's very deserving of all the awards and all the accolades that he's receiving, I'm happy for him. I'm happy for all our guys that get those kind of awards. But, when someone that you've watched and witnessed work so hard at his craft and spend so much time on his game that gets rewarded like that, it just makes you feel good."

"Every coach in America at every level talks about putting the time in and putting the work in. It'll pay off. When you're watching it develop right before your eyes, it's cool to see him reap the dividends of it. But, yesterday was a special day for him and his family. His parents, who are just wonderful people and have done such a tremendous job of raising Tolu into the man he is, were there to experience it. What a short time period that will be a wonderful memory for the rest of his life, to be awarded the Howell Trophy. Then, at the same time basically, it being announced that he was All-SEC First Team. I don't know many people in the country that had those kinds of awards bestowed upon them in that short period of time."

"I didn't know what to expect of the day to be honest with you. I never experienced that actual awards ceremony with the Gillom Trophy and the Howell Trophy and was just super impressed with the quality of people. It was great to interact with the other coaches that were in attendance and to hear them talk about their student-athletes. There's a reason why those kids are in that room. It was very evident by how they carry themselves and by how the coaches talked about them. The people in charge of the event did such a first-class job at making it very worthwhile to be a part of it."

Forward Tolu Smith
Q: "What was yesterday like winning the Howell Trophy and being named All-SEC? What were those moments like?
TS: "It was surreal, just all the hard work paying off. Just a great feeling to know that the hard work paid off. I think, it was more so for not just myself, but for Starkville and my teammates. Just a great feeling for everybody."

Q: I know each season is different, but you guys had some tough losses last year that were hard to bounce back from. You guys have had some pretty brutal losses, but you guys have had the ability to bounce back, flush it and come back pretty strong. What's been the difference this year with that aspect?
TS: "Obviously, before the season, it was a coaching change. We didn't know what to expect. But, with Coach Jans, I just think he's always highly motivated. No disrespect to the last coach, but it's a constant going battle with him. Just motivation to keep pushing us to be successful each day, day in and day out. Even when we were going through that bad stint, we stayed consistent. That was the thing that helped us out in the long run. I feel like we've grown closer when we were in that little stint that we had. Then, we just waited for the right time to explode, and we did at the right time."

Q: Given what the bracketology looks like heading into the SEC tournament, do you think these couple games coming up are some of the biggest of your career?
TS: "Man, for sure. I think just for my personal benefit, me wanting to always have the option to go to the [NCAA] Tournament or the chance to go to the [NCAA] Tournament. It's obviously a big, big game for us, and we're taking it as that. We're scouting earlier than usual. We're preparing earlier, and we're doing a lot of things different … It's the same mindset in every game, but it's a big game for us."

Q: What do you think of a challenge like that? A time for you to get to the NCAA Tournament for your first time with a few obstacles ahead. How do you welcome a challenge like that?
TS: "Man, we embrace it. We embrace it with open arms. It starts with the coaching staff, the head of the snake. Coach Jans loves these kinds of opportunities. He always says, 'If it wasn't the hard way, it'd be too easy.'"

Q: Tolu, I know there's not much time for preparation, but what are the biggest things that you guys are focusing on before going to Nashville?"
TS: "We're focusing on one game at a time. Just make sure that we take care of business in the first game. We're not worried about who's playing, who or what's going on with the next game. Just knowing that we got Florida ahead of us right now and we got to find a way a win."

WATCH: Coach Jans and Tolu Smith Media Session

Players Mentioned

Tolu Smith III

Mississippi State University Athletics