Photo by: Mike Mattina/MSU Athletics
WATCH: Coach Jans Media Session
January 23, 2025 | Men's Basketball
STARKVILLE - Head coach Chris Jans held his weekly media session on Thursday to preview Saturday's road tilt at South Carolina.
2024-25 Mississippi State Men's Basketball Quotes
Media Session – January 23, 2025
Head Coach Chris Jans
Q: You're in the part of the season where you start playing opponents for the second time. What is the mentality of your team going to South Carolina after you handled them fairly easily a few weeks back?
CJ: "You hit the nail on the head. That's what we're going to have to fight, the approach and the psyche, individually and certainly collectively, of this team having to go through that. I'm very happy we won weeks ago when we did to open SEC play, but each game which we all know and been around it long enough to understand, is its own little chapter in your season. What happened in that game really is fairy irrelevant weeks later. Everybody gets better as the season progresses."
"You could argue that it could hurt your mental [approach] because of taking your foot off the gas. If you look at their record at face value, as a young person and you beat them the way you did, the obvious to the coach is we're going to have to fight that all preparation. You would think having an older group, like a lot of us do now with the portal, etcetera, they would understand that. But we'll see. You asked how, I don't know. We haven't been through it yet. This will be our first go-around having to play someone twice."
They're [South Carolina] are snakebitten, almost. They had a chance against Auburn, who was ranked second at the time. Then, last night with Florida being ranked fifth, they led for 39-plus minutes at home. One of those games that you relive where one little possession and one little bounce is when the game changes. Your outlook and you feel good changes."
"For us to get our guys to have the right mentality will be a big deal. At the same time, why wouldn't they? We're coming off of a loss. We need to find a way to win another SEC game, and certainly with it being on the road makes it more difficult"
Q: It seems like starting games on the road has been an issue. What do you think can be fixed to help your team start faster on the road?
CJ: "As a staff, we've talked about it since the Tennessee game. We need to fix it from the top down. We've started well at home most of the time in these SEC games. But for whatever reason, it's still a small sample size, against Vanderbilt I think we were fine coming out of the gates. So, it's still three games, but we definitely don't want that to continue."
"When you let the crowds get into the game, as much as you don't want to think it's not a distraction and your team is mentally tough and can handle those types of things. In reality, it's why the home team wins more than the road team. That's part of the reason. If you can get off to a good start and build you confidence and keep the crowd at bay if you will a little bit, that gives you a better chance. Certainly, that will be something that we'll be talking about heading into Saturday's game"
Q: South Carolina has been putting themselves in a position to win but haven't quite been able to finish. What makes them dangerous, now that they are getting closer to winning games?
CJ: Everybody's dangerous in this league. If you're not hooked up and ready to play your best, you're going to get beat. I don't care if it's at home or on the road, I don't care what the records say. Everybody in the league talks about how daunting it is to look at, and if you get ahead of yourself and look at what's next."
"People talk about our schedule, but everybody's got it. South Carolina, going into SEC play, had the hardest [ranked] schedule left in the country. You look at theirs, and it's like 'Wow, where does it end?' It's like that for everybody. The respect factor has got to be at an all-time high. The understanding that they're hungry, and that they're starving for a win. They're coming off [losses] against No. 2 [Auburn] and No. 5 [Florida] by three [points] and one [point] at home."
"Certainly, it'll be talked about how the game unfolded here [in Starkville a few weeks ago]. They'll have plenty of motivation. Like I said earlier, we better too. We're 3-3 in the league, and we want to get to 4-3. We want to win another road game. It's hard, and it's not going to be easy. What we do today and tomorrow, I think will directly impact the outcome of the game certainly physically but probably equally important is just our mental approach the next couple of days."
Q: South Carolina forward Collin Murray-Boyles didn't have a very good game the last time you played. What did you do well last game, and what are you going to have to do to try and slow him down a second time around?
CJ: "I've got as much respect for him as anybody in the league. I love how he plays the game. I don't know him personally, but the things that I've read and saw snippets of, he seems like a really good kid and a great leader. He's all about their program, his teammates and their coaches. So, he's what's good about college basketball."
"Again, I don't know him, but I'd imagine he's not happy about that. He's going to do everything he can to make we see and feel how good of a player he is. So, it'll be a challenge. We were very physical with him. We bumped him off his spots, and we ran people at him. We tried to never let him get to where he wanted to go. We tried to never let him get comfortable, and we tried to take him out of his normal game if you will. It'll be different I'm sure and be more of a challenge at their place."
Q: Josh Hubbard struggled early against Tennessee but turned it around later in the game. What do you see on the offensive side that looks different from last year?
CJ: "When I watch film, I make clips of all of our players. Josh, Cam [Cameron Matthews] and all the way down the line. Obviously, there's only so many hours in a day. We watch film as a team, and then sometimes, we watch extra film with individuals on different day of the week, etcetera."
"For me with Josh, it's the whole game. People want to talk about scoring, shooting and all of that. But for me, how I look at it, is getting him to understand that regardless of what's going on the offensive end, it can't influence the other facets of the game. That's what everybody wants to focus on, and that's going to be the case for years to come outside of walls for the most part. Scoring, percentages and assists, the things that are on the stat sheet."
"If he's like, which I know he is, trying to be a complete player. It's just like anything else. Don't let something on that end affect your energy on the other end or your effort or being on top of the gameplan. That's always a struggle for everybody for the most part. That's an area where I think he can get better, and he can mature as a two-way basketball player. That's something I'm on him about is regardless of what's going on down there [offensively]. You've got to be on top of the defensive gameplan. You've got to be checking your man out, you've got to be rebounding down and you've got to be getting the ball out of the net and putting some pressure on the defense. There's so many other facets of the game. We've been working with him like all of our players. That's what I want from him is to just not let it influence the other end of the court.
"In terms of how teams are defending him, I don't know. The cat was out of the bag pretty early last year. So, I don't know if anyone has come up with a solution. He's certainly circled on everyone's report. He's getting everyone's best defender, and he's getting a lot of physicality. But, it was like that last year, too."
Q: What is KeShawn Murphy's ceiling, and what are you looking for from him?
CJ: "I thought that in the Tennessee game, the size and weight of their bigs, gave him some issues that evening. He just couldn't quite get his feet underneath him in some of the possessions, not just with the ball and without it. He just wasn't as balanced on both ends of the court, and it affected him. It's still his first year with major minutes. So, it's still a learning curve for him. Knowing him and knowing the type of work that he's put in, he'll learn and grow from that experience and be better next time."
2024-25 Mississippi State Men's Basketball Quotes
Media Session – January 23, 2025
Head Coach Chris Jans
Q: You're in the part of the season where you start playing opponents for the second time. What is the mentality of your team going to South Carolina after you handled them fairly easily a few weeks back?
CJ: "You hit the nail on the head. That's what we're going to have to fight, the approach and the psyche, individually and certainly collectively, of this team having to go through that. I'm very happy we won weeks ago when we did to open SEC play, but each game which we all know and been around it long enough to understand, is its own little chapter in your season. What happened in that game really is fairy irrelevant weeks later. Everybody gets better as the season progresses."
"You could argue that it could hurt your mental [approach] because of taking your foot off the gas. If you look at their record at face value, as a young person and you beat them the way you did, the obvious to the coach is we're going to have to fight that all preparation. You would think having an older group, like a lot of us do now with the portal, etcetera, they would understand that. But we'll see. You asked how, I don't know. We haven't been through it yet. This will be our first go-around having to play someone twice."
They're [South Carolina] are snakebitten, almost. They had a chance against Auburn, who was ranked second at the time. Then, last night with Florida being ranked fifth, they led for 39-plus minutes at home. One of those games that you relive where one little possession and one little bounce is when the game changes. Your outlook and you feel good changes."
"For us to get our guys to have the right mentality will be a big deal. At the same time, why wouldn't they? We're coming off of a loss. We need to find a way to win another SEC game, and certainly with it being on the road makes it more difficult"
Q: It seems like starting games on the road has been an issue. What do you think can be fixed to help your team start faster on the road?
CJ: "As a staff, we've talked about it since the Tennessee game. We need to fix it from the top down. We've started well at home most of the time in these SEC games. But for whatever reason, it's still a small sample size, against Vanderbilt I think we were fine coming out of the gates. So, it's still three games, but we definitely don't want that to continue."
"When you let the crowds get into the game, as much as you don't want to think it's not a distraction and your team is mentally tough and can handle those types of things. In reality, it's why the home team wins more than the road team. That's part of the reason. If you can get off to a good start and build you confidence and keep the crowd at bay if you will a little bit, that gives you a better chance. Certainly, that will be something that we'll be talking about heading into Saturday's game"
Q: South Carolina has been putting themselves in a position to win but haven't quite been able to finish. What makes them dangerous, now that they are getting closer to winning games?
CJ: Everybody's dangerous in this league. If you're not hooked up and ready to play your best, you're going to get beat. I don't care if it's at home or on the road, I don't care what the records say. Everybody in the league talks about how daunting it is to look at, and if you get ahead of yourself and look at what's next."
"People talk about our schedule, but everybody's got it. South Carolina, going into SEC play, had the hardest [ranked] schedule left in the country. You look at theirs, and it's like 'Wow, where does it end?' It's like that for everybody. The respect factor has got to be at an all-time high. The understanding that they're hungry, and that they're starving for a win. They're coming off [losses] against No. 2 [Auburn] and No. 5 [Florida] by three [points] and one [point] at home."
"Certainly, it'll be talked about how the game unfolded here [in Starkville a few weeks ago]. They'll have plenty of motivation. Like I said earlier, we better too. We're 3-3 in the league, and we want to get to 4-3. We want to win another road game. It's hard, and it's not going to be easy. What we do today and tomorrow, I think will directly impact the outcome of the game certainly physically but probably equally important is just our mental approach the next couple of days."
Q: South Carolina forward Collin Murray-Boyles didn't have a very good game the last time you played. What did you do well last game, and what are you going to have to do to try and slow him down a second time around?
CJ: "I've got as much respect for him as anybody in the league. I love how he plays the game. I don't know him personally, but the things that I've read and saw snippets of, he seems like a really good kid and a great leader. He's all about their program, his teammates and their coaches. So, he's what's good about college basketball."
"Again, I don't know him, but I'd imagine he's not happy about that. He's going to do everything he can to make we see and feel how good of a player he is. So, it'll be a challenge. We were very physical with him. We bumped him off his spots, and we ran people at him. We tried to never let him get to where he wanted to go. We tried to never let him get comfortable, and we tried to take him out of his normal game if you will. It'll be different I'm sure and be more of a challenge at their place."
Q: Josh Hubbard struggled early against Tennessee but turned it around later in the game. What do you see on the offensive side that looks different from last year?
CJ: "When I watch film, I make clips of all of our players. Josh, Cam [Cameron Matthews] and all the way down the line. Obviously, there's only so many hours in a day. We watch film as a team, and then sometimes, we watch extra film with individuals on different day of the week, etcetera."
"For me with Josh, it's the whole game. People want to talk about scoring, shooting and all of that. But for me, how I look at it, is getting him to understand that regardless of what's going on the offensive end, it can't influence the other facets of the game. That's what everybody wants to focus on, and that's going to be the case for years to come outside of walls for the most part. Scoring, percentages and assists, the things that are on the stat sheet."
"If he's like, which I know he is, trying to be a complete player. It's just like anything else. Don't let something on that end affect your energy on the other end or your effort or being on top of the gameplan. That's always a struggle for everybody for the most part. That's an area where I think he can get better, and he can mature as a two-way basketball player. That's something I'm on him about is regardless of what's going on down there [offensively]. You've got to be on top of the defensive gameplan. You've got to be checking your man out, you've got to be rebounding down and you've got to be getting the ball out of the net and putting some pressure on the defense. There's so many other facets of the game. We've been working with him like all of our players. That's what I want from him is to just not let it influence the other end of the court.
"In terms of how teams are defending him, I don't know. The cat was out of the bag pretty early last year. So, I don't know if anyone has come up with a solution. He's certainly circled on everyone's report. He's getting everyone's best defender, and he's getting a lot of physicality. But, it was like that last year, too."
Q: What is KeShawn Murphy's ceiling, and what are you looking for from him?
CJ: "I thought that in the Tennessee game, the size and weight of their bigs, gave him some issues that evening. He just couldn't quite get his feet underneath him in some of the possessions, not just with the ball and without it. He just wasn't as balanced on both ends of the court, and it affected him. It's still his first year with major minutes. So, it's still a learning curve for him. Knowing him and knowing the type of work that he's put in, he'll learn and grow from that experience and be better next time."
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's BasketballMEN'S BASKETBALL | Josh Hubbard & Sergej Macura Postgame vs. North Alabama - 11/5/25
Wednesday, November 05
MEN'S BASKETBALL | Chris Jans Postgame vs. North Alabama - 11/5/25
Wednesday, November 05
MEN'S BASKETBALL | Chris Jans Media Session - 11/3/25
Monday, November 03
MEN'S BASKETBALL | Sergej Macura & Jamarion Davis-Fleming Media Session | 10/29/25
Wednesday, October 29