WATCH: Players Postgame Presser - New Orleans

2025-26 Mississippi State Men's Basketball Postgame Quotes
Mississippi State vs. New Orleans – November 24, 2025

Mississippi State Guard Ja'Borri McGhee and Forward Amier Ali
Q: What did you see in that last play in overtime? What was going through your head when you shot the ball?
AA: "We were trying to get the ball to Hubb [Josh Hubbard] obviously. But, coach told us to do a flat ball screen. I saw the opening at that three-point line off the dribble. I just shot it, and I made it. It felt like when you were a kid and thinking in your brain three, two, one on the playground. It felt like I was in an empty gym. I just shot it, and I made it."

Q: What has the season been like for you not playing in the season opener or against Southeastern Louisiana and being able to work your way back into a role like you had tonight?
AA: "Coming here, I had to earn everything that I had to get. I'm not going to come in here, and it's just going to be easy. You have all these great players beside me. I knew coming in that it was going to be a challenge, especially defensively, I knew I had to work on that."

"I just trust the process. The coaches were always with me and telling me your time is coming, your time is coming. I wasn't that frustrated because I love my brothers and obviously, I want to see them win. But also, I knew one day that I was going to shine. I really believed it and now it's happening. We've still have a long season [ahead]. There are ups and downs to it, but I kind of saw it coming because I really believed in it."

Q: In the second half it seemed like New Orleans had an answer every time you guys had a little kick of momentum. What was happening in the last five minutes during the huddles to overcome that?
JM: "We just trusted in the work. Like Coach [Jans] says, it goes back to knowing that we practice harder. We were in the huddle, and I remember telling the guys that they're making tough shots right now. Some of them were second chances and basketball is like that, it happens. We just have got to stay together. This is adversity, if we handle this adversity, then the next one will be on our side. We took it four minutes by four minutes and get three stops at a time. Overtime, they got tired and started missing more. We were able to capitalize down the stretch."

Q: What was it like for you as a teammate to see Amier Ali come up with a big shot like that?
JM: "Amier knows – I can't say what I want to say, but it was a great feeling just being out there and just seeing him have fun. Amier is one of those guys where you just have to know him to know what kind of player he is. He's a three-level scorer. He can shoot it from deep, obviously you've seen that. He can drive it, and he can rebound, which is really what we need right now."

"To see him come in stay ready and know that he hasn't been playing. Coaches had just been telling him to stay ready. He's been going hard with us every day at practice and giving us the look we need. We knew he was going to get in and make plays."

Q: Ja'Borri, everybody is going to try and go hard regardless of the situation. How does your mindset change when you know Jayden Epps isn't going to play tonight?
JM: "We talk about it a lot. You've got to always be ready because the way it is right now, I feel like we have three good guards. It's really hard to tell who's going to do what every night, it could be either one of us at any given time. We came together, and we told each other no matter how it went like that we all have to be ready at any given time. Trust that Jayden will be back soon and healthy, and he'll pick it up right where he left off."

Q: How big was this second half and overtime in terms of this group understanding each other and getting on the same page?
AA: "To me, it was great because I've really seen our togetherness. We've always had togetherness, but it was a new level of togetherness. We're getting better every day and getting acclimated to each other. But, it was great to see, and I love to see that we were all together never too high, never too low. We tried to do that, and it showed. We were down and came back and came out victorious."

Q: None of these games have seem to be easy this season. What do you think it is going to take to win a full complete game that you guys are maybe still searching for?
JM: "Honestly, in my opinion, and I do not mean this in a bad way at all when I was this. Just being around a new group of guys like Coach [Jans] said. This is probably the nicest group I've been around, but I think we've got to hold each other accountable more."

"Some nights on the court, Coach Jans is coaching us hard. We can kind of get timid and play on our heels. As a senior, I feel like some nights we play not to lose if that makes sense instead of us just going out there with no nervousness like ready to play hard every play no matter what happens. The moment we figure that out, I think we're going to turn this around and be one of the best teams in the country."

WATCH: Players Postgame Presser - New Orleans

Players Mentioned

Amier Ali

Jayden Epps

Josh Hubbard

Ja’Borri McGhee

Mississippi State University Athletics