WATCH: Coach Jans Media Session

STARKVILLE - Head coach Chris Jans spoke with the media leading into Tuesday's practice as No. 25 Mississippi State returns to action versus McNeese on Saturday at Cadence Bank Arena in Tupelo.

2024-25 Mississippi State Men's Basketball Quotes
Media Session – December 10, 2024

Head Coach Chris Jans
Q: Looking at McNeese compared to last year, what differences stand out to you?
CJ: "Comparing McNeese to McNeese last year? I didn't really know their team last year … I'm just getting into a deeper dive on them now, but they've got a lot of medium-sized, good-looking athletes. Strong athletes that have been around and are experienced. They're very physical, and they play really, really, hard.

"They're a well-coached basketball team. They get to the line, they rebound the ball and they play a lot of guys. They've been prepared. They played good competition. They've played really good other programs. So, they've kind of been there, done that already in the still early stage of the season."

Q: After looking at the tape on Sunday, what did you see on the defensive end that left something to be desired that you can clean up heading into this Saturday's game?
CJ: "Unfortunately, I probably sound like a broken record. In simple terms, we just weren't very good at the point of attack. It's something we stress, and something that we talk about in drills every day. Our breakdowns were just one-on-one, either putting too much pressure outside the scoring area, and getting in an angle-type situation. Or, when we had two guys come together in a ball screen situation, not being on the same page in terms of our coverage, communication and foot angles. We set ourselves up to fail that way."

"Then, when that breaks down, you've got to rely on your positioning off the ball. You talk about strong and weak in the gaps or in the help. They're not exact words, but, in our vocabulary, we were just off. We weren't in solid positioning off the ball. We either over helped and gave up a corner three, or we weren't strong enough in our help when the ball got driven to the sides of the floor. So, we were late. Without being able to take charges if you're late in those situations, the ball handler has an advantage, and he just splits you. The guys are a little bit behind guarding the ball. Then, the guy coming over to help he just knifes through that. We call that the split, and we just gave up way too many of those."

"The other thing is they earned it, but it's like anything. Their confidence grew. They scored early when we were up 6-2. Then, it was 8-7, and we were down. Their confidence grew, and you could see it. We were a big reason why they did that, and I think I've said this before. A lot of people will say they just made shots. They didn't make as many shots against some other teams. They did make a couple contested shots, and you tip your cap and go to the other end. But, we didn't do as good a job as making them miss, and it's something that we've got to get better at."

Q: We talked a lot about KeShawn Murphy and his progress this year. Was there a moment looking back this summer when you started watching him practice and thought 'This was a different guy", or was it more of a steady progression?
CJ: "Yeah, I wish I had a great response and story about that, but it's more just his body of work. You go through the summer workouts and even the fall. Certainly, as a coaching staff, we talk about that day's work and who looked good. There's an excitement about the consistency of Murph's daily approach. His productivity more importantly, we stat everything. We share that with our players. We post it. They know what they're shooting, what they're not, how they're rebounding percentage wise, turnovers, assists and all the things that we look at during the games."

"He was just a leader among our teams all summer long. Everybody can sense it and see it. The players all knew, man he's going to have a breakout year if he can get practice on the floor. I know you didn't ask me about it, but he didn't have as good of a game against Prairie View. But he just kind of had some bad luck, to be honest with you. As I watched the film, he had two fouls in the first however many minutes he was on the floor … We really needed him because with the thought of Mook [Cameron Matthews] maybe not playing, that put us and him in a bind. In the second half, he just couldn't get it going."

Q: Going now against a tough McNeese team under Will Wade who made the NCAA Tournament last year, what's going to be the key for you guys to get a hot start against them and trying to set the tone on Saturday?
CJ: "Yeah, as we just talked about, we're best when we have a defensive mindset when we're trying to establish ourselves on that end of the floor. It's always a battle of wills, right? Our will as a unit against their will. I think that's what will happen. Who's going to impose their will first, most, will end up winning the game."

"For us, that's where it starts, just establishing ourselves. Being tough on the ball and being in the right position, just trying to get multiple stops that requires multiple efforts. I think in the end it's that and being relentless in the rebounding game will end up being two big factors in the end of the game."

Q: Looking where the SEC stands in the polls, is the league playing where your peers expected them to be this year?
CJ: "All I know is in the summer and the recruiting trail, I would sit next to different coaches and see how everyone did well recruiting and who they had coming back, and different coaches that were hired. I would ask my buddies, 'Think about this, look around and look at these programs. Which coach in here is part of whatever program was in the SEC doesn't think they have a real chance to be in the NCAA Tournament.' That was a scary thought, because you start naming them off even in the summer when you're recruiting on the floor. There wasn't many people, I can't come up with one. Maybe one of the guys I asked blurted out one or two, but I had an argument for it, like, 'Really? They've got this guy, this guy, this guy.' I told you that when you're on the road in the summer, there's some long days where you have those conversations. So, I guess from my perspective, going into it that's what I said to people."

"I don't know in the end. I haven't been around the SEC long enough to make bold statements. I just can't imagine a deeper SEC than there's ever been. That's all I said. I can't imagine that there's going to be a deeper SEC just in our league. I'm not comparing it to the other leagues historically. Let people smarter than me that study it, rank the numbers and have all the data. It's out there. People are starting to compare it to some of the best non-conference records and analytics and metrics. I think it's awesome. I love that the league is performing the way it is. I enjoy rooting for the other programs, because the obvious is it's all about the opportunities that you have or don't have once you get into league play. There's only a few weeks left. Everyone's got three or four games left before we've got to start playing each other. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we all, especially the Bulldogs, finish the non-conference portion well."

Q: With Cameron Matthews being that point forward, passing and ball handling ability. Was that something you saw in him when you first arrived here, or is it something that's progressed over time?
CJ: "Yeah, it's progressed. I can't tell you that watching film of him before I coached him or even the spring and summer that that was in the back of our minds. Hey, we're going to build a package for Cam, and let him be the decision-maker handler. Just over time, he started developing. We had some injuries our first year out front, and we were a little light at some ball-handling duties."

"We started messing around with D.J. [Jeffries], and Cam being that position. D.J. obviously had played a different position than Cam most of his life, so he was a little more familiar with doing that kind of thing. Once we started toying with it, we were like, 'Wow, he's pretty good at this.' So, it's just developed over time, and it's fun. He likes to do it, we like to do it. Hopefully, that will continue for us."

Mississippi State University Athletics

WATCH: Coach Jans Media Session

Players Mentioned

Cameron Matthews

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