WATCH: Coach Jans Media Session

STARKVILLE - State Head coach Chris Jans met with the media on Thursday to preview Saturday's matchup with No. 6 Kentucky.

2024-25 Mississippi State Men's Basketball Quotes
Media Session – January 9, 2025

Head Coach Chris Jans
Q: Winning would be the biggest thing for Saturday, but looking back at the past couple seasons, what are your thoughts of how this program has built this atmosphere and the support of the fans?
CJ: "Yeah, it's been great. The swelling of support from year-to-year, and I don't know if it's game-to-game but definitely year-to-year, has been really, really good. When we arrived, we talked about trying to create that atmosphere that everybody wants in their program."

"The students, to me, are the ones that have spearheaded it. They've been very consistent since we've arrived. Our staff and our players have tried to develop relationships with those folks across campus. Being visible and trying to work with them and getting to know them, and most importantly know, that we appreciate them."

"It's not just a foregone conclusion that students are supposed to come to the games, and we're trying to be interactive with them. I think as a fan, everybody knows that if the students are there, it create more ruckus environment, and everybody gets a little more involved. But, it's been awesome to see. Hopefully, it'll continue to build."

Q: I know you've been watching film, what the early impressions? What stands out to you most about this Kentucky team?
CJ: "A lot of things. They're just so explosive offensively. I think they've got, I know five and maybe six depending on the game, one guy kind of fluctuates, double figure scorers. So, it's not as if they're not equipped to handle off nights by certain individuals. It's pretty remarkable to have that many guys on a consistent basis averaging that many points over the course of a season."

"They just run their stuff with so much confidence and so much pace. They know they've got a great buy in with their team. They believe in what they're doing. They play together, and they share the basketball at a high, high level. Obviously, they're very skilled and talented, but more importantly they play together. Coach [Mark] Pope and his staff have done a tremendous job of getting their kids to, like I said, buy in and understand the system and buy into the system."

"Then, on the other end, not that it doesn't help them on offense, but they're just so big all the way around. Out front, they've got big strong guards. It starts with [Lamont] Butler as the head of the snake defensively and the experience and the size he brings to the table. Then, they've got tremendous size around the basket with great shot blocking ability as well. So, they're obviously a very good basketball team."

Q: You've had contributions a little bit from everyone on this roster. How valuable is it to have that depth to pull from?
CJ: "Yeah, it's kind of like what I referred to with Kentucky. They've proven that different guys can step up on different nights. We don't have as many guys that are averaging double figures, but I think we do have enough game experience to know that we definitely have people capable of leading us in scoring on different nights or stepping up and making a big shot when it's really, really needed over the course of a game."

"So, I think our whole locker room has a lot of confidence in each other that every team has a leading scorer. Some teams, given the situation, everybody knows where the ball is going to go. For us, people tend to think the ball is going to go to Josh [Hubbard]. Certainly, it's going to quite a bit of the time, but I think it probably makes him feel really, really good knowing that if it isn't in his hands, there's plenty of willing and able teammates that are able to step up either over the course of the game or in that moment."

Q: Obviously, Kentucky is one of the biggest name brands in the sport, but they went through a ton of turnover. What impresses you most about how Coach Pope was able to build his team and put them back where they almost always are in the top ten?
CJ: "Yeah, I knew he would. I anticipated that he would. I'm familiar with Coach. We were in the same league [the WAC] and played against each other a handful of times prior to this game [when Jans was at New Mexico State and Pope was at Utah Valley]. So, I've always had a lot of respect for him as a human being, as a person and definitely as a coach. I've got to know him over the course of the last few years, and he works very, very hard at his craft. He's an excellent coach and a really hard-nosed recruiter who works at it."

"With him being an alum and a former player [at Kentucky], I knew he'd hit the ground running. With the name brand, like you said, I couldn't imagine him having any problems having an elite roster. He's done that, and they're probably where I expected them to be."

Q: In various sports, people like to compare scores. With Kentucky losing to Georgia the other night and Tennessee losing by 30 to Florida when they were number 1, is it really smart in the SEC to do that, and do you look at it that way at all?
CJ: "No, I wouldn't advise anyone at any time [to do that], you guys have been following the sport long enough to know. If you start doing that, it will just mess with your head. If you're a player or a coach, you definitely shouldn't be into that game because it could warp your mind and not get you in the right frame of mind, if you will, to play a certain team. You beat someone, and they got beat by that person so that means we're going to beat them. That's been thrown out the window decades ago."

"People can say it's not ideal that Kentucky lost that game. Well, whatever, it's out of our control. We're going to play Kentucky on Saturday night, and they're going to play Mississippi State on Saturday night. Our jobs, as coaches, is to get our kids ready to play whether we're coming off a loss or a win. I understand the headline that it'd be better for us if they had come in here off a win. Who knows? The old adage is who knows what's going on inside the walls of another program all year long. You always wonder, but you never know. So, you've got to stay singularly focused on the task at hand and preparing your kids and trying to get them ready to play."

Q: Coach, you had several guys returning from last year who played in big games. How beneficial is it to have guys who are used to playing in a big game atmosphere like this?
CJ: "Yeah, I think where we're at in college basketball that's going to be a case more times than not because of the portal and the kids just having different experiences prior to transferring to another school. So, certainly, we've got enough guys that have been here and been in games that will be like Saturday night with the anticipation and the crowd, but so do they. They've got a bunch of guys that have already played in big time environments against big time programs, so their comfort level will be fine, I'd imagine because of their opportunities that they have in the preseason to play in these certain type of events. They played at Clemson, and they obviously played at Georgia. They played at these big neutral site games. So, I don't think that part of the game will be too much for either team."

Mississippi State University Athletics

WATCH: Coach Jans Media Session

Related Videos