WATCH: Coach Jans Postgame Presser - Georgia Tech

ATLANTA, Georgia - Mississippi State men's basketball coach Chris Jans spoke with Neil Price and Richard Williams following State's 85-73 win at Georgia Tech in the ACC/SEC Challenge.

2025-26 Mississippi State Men's Basketball Postgame Quotes
Mississippi State at Georgia Tech – December 3, 2025

Mississippi State Head Coach Chris Jans
Q: What kind of moment is this for your team to get your first true road win on the season against an ACC team?
CJ: "I just left a bunch of young men [in the locker room] that are just happy. They're joyous, and it was the perfect amount of celebration for what we did. It was fairly muted, but it was more just them chatting with each other and joking with each other. They were talking about the game. I just stood there and took it all in."

"I was just so happy for them to see that winning feeling you know coursing through their veins, and through the program. Like you said, it felt really, really good. We talked a lot about that heading into the game that this was our first true road opportunity. Everyone talks about it, I think, but for me personally I don't think there's anything better in this sport than going into someone else's barn and getting a win. Hearing the silence when you walk off and head to the bowels of the arena and get to celebrate with your team. This was our first opportunity like I said to get a road win, and we got it done"

Q: You started Brandon Walker and Jamarion Davis Flemming tonight. In the first half between the two, they had 15 points and 10 rebounds. What was the thought process starting those two guys tonight?"
CJ: "You know I'm not that smart. If I'd known that was going to be the case, I would've started them earlier. It's just a matchup thing. We wanted to switch it up and get a new feel, a new vibe, a new rotation. Fortunately, it worked out in our favor tonight anyway."

Q: I thought your first half defense was really good. Did you do anything different than you normally do?
CJ: "Yeah, I thought it was too. I was pleased with us being assignment correct and trying to get the game plan under the floor. We've been getting better at that. We've been getting better at transferring our work in our scout into the game which is a big deal for us. Hopefully, it bodes well going forward."

"Obviously, Kowacie Reeves had a heck of a game. He got loose, and we had to switch up how we were defending him. We had to no catch him there in the last five minutes, and there wasn't going to give any help off him when he's one pass away. But the other guys, some of the other guys, like two [Eric Chatfield] and one [Lamar Washington], we were really adamant about going under ball screens and keeping out of the paint."

"One of the big goals going into the game was to not let six [Mouhamed Sylla], 11 [Baye Ndongo] and five [Peyton Marshall], even their big five-men, rim-run in the half court and get lobs because they change the mood in the arena. It brings life to their bench. We really worked on our ball screen defense in a little bit of a tweak what we normally do and try to keep that roller in front of us so they couldn't get those rolls down the middle of the lane and throw it up. Those guys were so athletic, and I've seen it happen so many times on video. I don't know if they had one in all night. I can't remember if they did, but if it was, it was really late in the game."

Q: First half, they had a 6-6 guard starting on Josh Hubbard then they switched to a 6-4 guard on Josh Hubbard. Second half, he was really good. What was the difference?"
CJ: "Again, you're going to have to ask him, I don't know. We talked as a team. I told him, and I shared with the staff a lot, I think our guys are going to be a little shocked by the size of Georgia Tech because they don't normally start anybody under 6-6 across the lineup. Obviously, we don't have that kind of length in our back court. Certainly, that was like, how is that going to play out?"

"The big thing we talked about was using our speed and using our quickness to our advantage and just battling them up front and doing things we wanted to do against their shooters and their non shooters. Certainly, Josh had a big impact in the second half. He's the main one that got some separation there to pull away at the end."

Q: After a big win like that, I don't want to talk about negative things but a couple of turnovers later in the game against their press. Is it just a matter of execution?
CJ: "A lot of things. Let's be honest, we're not blessed with great size with some of our guards. So, normally when we run our press-o, and they get into a certain situation, we're trying to not catch it in the coffin corners, right. That's rule number one. So, what you do, is you work to get open. If you don't get open, then you stop and seal them and use your frame and throw a little lofted pass to catch it but not get trapped in the corner. That's a little more difficult for us. So, we've got our fours and fives a little more involved. They were a little bit, and we got some catches from them."

"When it got late, we told them: 'Hey, when they make a basket, just let it bounce and get organized.' Don't worry about getting the ball out of the net and trying to push the ball. One time, Quincy [Ballard] took the ball out. It might have been a violation, but they didn't call it. We just didn't get quite as organized as one. We ran obviously one home run play that we didn't get the layup on. We had another one in the books. Then, it got to the point where we were up enough that we didn't have to burn it and show our future opponents another one."

Q: Against a bigger team like Georgia Tech, tell me how happy these numbers make you. You outscored them in the paint, 42-26, you outscored them on second chances 16-11 and you had six more blocked shots, 9-3, then they did.
CJ: "The 9-3 blocked shots was surprising. I didn't realize it during the game. Then, that's the first thing I pointed out to the staff in our locker room before we met with the kids that 'wow, we had nine blocked shots. That's a lot for any basketball team. Hopefully, it means that they're getting better at competing at the rim."

"On the other end, that's one of our big things going in is anything around the basket, you had a shot to fake everything unless it was a clear path. They would go for every shot fake. You had to continue to just believe in it and not travel because they're very quick twitched. They block shots and turn defense into offense. So, I was really happy about that."

"All the other things you talked about, that's great, but we gave up 17 offensive rebounds. They didn't capitalize on all of them because of the second chance points were only 11, but they had opportunities to capitalize on them. That's got to be something we got to figure out. We've got to do it by committee, and we've got to get everybody involved. We had some missed checks early, and we just got to get better at it. Now, five of them were team rebounds so that's a little bit different when the ball gets tipped, etcetera. I thought we outrebounded them on the raw data which doesn't mean that much in this day and age."

Q: I'll let you run on this. Your team clinched the SEC/ACC challenge for the SEC with the win tonight. Is there some pride there for you and your guys?
CJ: "Sure, the TV guys asked me before the game how much stock do I put in trying to get a winning point if you will. I said that I'll be honest with you. Right now, I'm concerned about Mississippi State basketball. I love the SEC, and I want to do our part. But, at the end of the day, it wasn't a motivational tactic that we used with our team. It was about trying to beat Georgia Tech on the road and take care of Mississippi State, but certainly love the fact that we had a good night which I didn't realize at all. I haven't seen anything, and I'm glad that we turned the tide a little bit."

Mississippi State University Athletics

WATCH: Coach Jans Postgame Presser - Georgia Tech

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