WATCH: Coach Jans Media Session

STARKVILLE - Mississippi State head coach Chris Jans met with media leading into Wednesday's practice to preview this weekend's matchup at Utah.

2025-26 Mississippi State Men's Basketball Quotes
Media Session– December 10, 2025

Mississippi State Head Coach Chris Jans
Q: When you look at the frontcourt, it seems like players take a step forward for a game and then take a step back. What have you seen in terms of a lack of consistency from that group?
CJ: "Yeah, consistency has been an issue for our whole team, not just our frontcourt. Specifically for Q [Quincy Ballard] and Jamar [Jamarion Davis-Fleming], I mean Jamar is a freshman. We're not playing him like one. He's had some great runs and some great games. He just didn't play as well against San Francisco. He's got nine games under his belt, and he continues to get better. When you've got anyone that's fairly new, the trajectory usually just isn't like boom like that [motions with his hand in an upward direction]. There are some ups and some downs that come with it, but he's going in the right direction. He just had a bit of a downward trajectory that particular day. We haven't lost any confidence in him whatsoever, but our team's that way. We're just inconsistent."

"Q didn't start [on Sunday] more for matchup purposes than anything else that particular game. We were trying to see who they started. We were trying to match minutes with one of their bigger guys to make it a more beneficial matchup for him. I don't know if that affected him, although he didn't start the game before either [at Georgia Tech]. He missed some shots around the basket early that he had been making. It's almost like he lost a little confidence that way."

"As a staff, we'll have to tinker and toy with how we can put him in a better position. He's proven that if he can get the ball deep enough that he can score the ball, and he's got beautiful touch. For whatever reason, it just didn't go in for him that evening. Then, he had some block out errors down the stretch that hurt our chances of coming back and trying to win. They both did. Certainly, we're trying to correct them and make sure that they don't happen again."

Q: Do you have any updates on Josh Hubbard's health?
CJ: "Josh is obviously a hardworking kid, fortunately for us. Our trainer Bryce [Gimmarro] is a hardworking guy as well. I know they're going to be working around the clock to try to get him back as soon as he can, but I don't have a timetable."

Q: If Josh Hubbard is unable to play on Saturday, what is your confidence in the rest of the team being able to pick up from a scoring standpoint if Josh can't play due to injury?
CJ: "Well, I always feel like when you have time to prepare for something like that, it's a little bit easier than when it happens a couple of minutes into the game. So, we'll probably be more prepared if that ends up being the case that way."

"At halftime [on Sunday], we made some major adjustments, especially on the offensive end that proved to be good ones. We scored almost twice as many points in the second half as we did in the first half. It was kind of like, 'Is this really happening?' type of deal for some of the guys on our team and even for some of our coaches. It was obviously a big blow. It was a big punch in the gut at 17:33 in the first half to lose someone that is so valuable to your team, but that happens in sports. You've got to be able to move on quickly and figure it out. So, like I said, we should have more confidence now knowing that we just played 36-plus [minutes] and some change without him. We were able to get better as the game progressed, so we have an idea of what we need to do."

Q: Is there anything you're looking for from Jayden Epps and Ja'Borri McGhee entering the next game at Utah?
CJ: "I mean with Jayden, you talk about consistency. He's been very consistent the last three or four games on both ends. I told the team this that his buy into being assignment correct and being on it defensively has been a shot in the arm for us, in a positive way. He's really working on that end of the court if you really were paying attention. His motor is going. He's doing a good job of guarding his own man and then being in position when he's not guarding his own man. He's trying to get the scout into the game, and he just seems like his buy in is off the charts right now. On the offensive end, he's found his groove a little bit of how he scores, and he's been doing it. He's been scoring the ball at a pretty good level. For the most part, he's been pretty efficient in terms of his shots attempts and the number of points he's receiving. I'm happy for him. For us to be more successful, he needs to be a big part of it going forward."

"Ja'Borri, obviously, he had a pretty good game last game. He was 6-for-9 and had six or seven defensive rebounds. He showed some athletic plays, and he showed a little bit of a fire. He just needs to build from that. He needs to be more consistent that way where we can rely on him for certain things every single night. He understands that. We've been talking to him about that for a while with him. He's kind of our multidimensional guy out there where he can move across the board. He can play the two, and he can even play small-ball three if we have to for defensive reasons, etcetera. He played the one prior to coming here, and he played the one a lot this summer and fall. So, he's developed into a utility guard for us that can do a little bit of everything."

Q: What have you seen from this Utah team, and how big is it for your team to have almost a week between games?
CJ: "Yeah, it comes at a pretty decent time that way trying to get healthy obviously with Josh and others. It's typical finals week where those books have become an even bigger priority than they normally already are. I may have mentioned it to you guys or to radio [postgame on Sunday]. In this world that we're living in now, sometimes all of us can forget that they have those responsibilities and the amount of time. We can all hearken our days of what it's like to go through finals weeks while being part of a basketball team. So, we're trying to give them the time and the space to take care of their academic responsibilities and finish the semester strong in that way. We've got some other guys who are banged up, including Josh, that having some more time off this week is beneficial for us."

"Utah is a very well-coached team. Coach Jensen is a first-year coach, but he's not new to coaching college basketball. He played there and was an unbelievable player. Then, he's been in the NBA. His teams are very well organized, and they run very good offense. They're going to be a handful. We're not playing them on campus, but we're playing them in an NBA arena, which will be a new experience for this team. But certainly, it will be a lot like these other neutral site games that we've played in other than the Tupelo one, it will be a decided difference in the fans that will be at the game [supporting our team]. We've already been down that road. and we understand what we're walking into that way too."

Q: What have you seen from Josh and his desire to get back out on the court to help this team as soon as he can?
CJ: "We're not going to put anyone, regardless of who they are and what they're projected worth is to our team is on the court, if we're not confident in whatever injury they have or try to put them in harm's way. It's never my call. It's always going to be the trainer, the doctor and the player's call when it comes to something like that. Josh will let us know when he's ready. He'll have to go through a process, like most of the guys do, in terms of being non-contact at first. Then, getting out there and getting moving and getting confidence in how he can move before we throw him to the fire and play physical five-on-five type of basketball. Hopefully it's sooner than later."

Q: Are there any specific areas you want to improve before the game with Utah?
CJ: "Rebounding is something that we've been talking about a lot. We were disappointed with the results on Sunday. That was as big of a priority as we've had going into the game. We had to control the glass on both ends, and we didn't. We've got to be a team that does a lot of work on the ground from the time the rise of the shot until the ball is secure by whomever. There's a lot that goes on on the court. We break it down to them in the finest details, and we just aren't where we need to be in that department. In my opinion, we're losing games because of it."

"If you look back and watch the games closely, it's not the first stop as much as it is what happens when the ball is shot. It's not just one person. It's a missed assignment there, a missed check there or not enough grit here. And again, it's not just one guy. I could sit here and say it's the frontcourt, or it's the backcourt, because they're all involved. We just haven't put it together well enough yet. We've got to help them out better. We've got to figure out even a different scheme rebounding wise to possibly put us in a better position. How I believe that facet of the game, it usually proves to be a big reason why a team wins or loses basketball games. For us right now, that's an area that I'll continue to stress and try to figure out and try to help this team do better."

WATCH: Coach Jans Media Session

Players Mentioned

Quincy Ballard

Jamarion Davis-Fleming

Jayden Epps

Josh Hubbard

Ja’Borri McGhee

Mississippi State University Athletics