WATCH: Coach Jans Media Session
February 13, 2025 | Men's Basketball
STARKVILLE - Mississippi State head coach Chris Jans met with the media leading into Thursday's practice to preview this weekend's matchup at No. 19 Ole Miss.
2024-25 Mississippi State Men's Basketball
Media Session – February 13, 2025
Head Coach Chris Jans
Q: What stands out from watching film over the last few games, other than a lack of confidence?
CJ: "We go through spurts offensively in games that puts us behind the eight ball. You never know when they're going to come, obviously. If we did, we'd do everything we could to avoid it. But, we get out of sorts. It's not one person."
"Like I said after the [Florida] game, we were not balanced offensively; even in the first half when the game was close. Unfortunately, this team when things aren't going well offensively, it affects other areas of our game. Every coach talks about having teams that understand that your mood, your personality and your effort can't change regardless of what's going on, on the offensive end. It's a great theory. Certainly, I've had teams that are better than others at it, but I think that individually which leads to collectively to us having some of that in us. And, it can't in a league like the SEC particularly this year, you're going to have stretches where you have some costly turnovers, some poor shooting and some frustration. You've got to sprint back, build your defense and rely on that. We've had times where that wasn't the case, and it's proved costly for us."
"The start of the second half [against Florida] looking back at the video, our get back defense, I think 12 or 13 of the points in that run were because of going from offense-to-defense and not setting our defense. Some people having some breakdowns in their responsibilities of doing that. Then, we turned it over I think six of our first nine possessions offensively. When you're turning it over on offense, that leads to runouts by the other team. Combined with what I said about our get back defense in general, that particular game got away from us. Big picture, people talk about how our defensive numbers aren't as good, and they're not. Sometimes, there's a lot that goes into that. Sometimes, your offense directly leads to poor defensive possessions as well."
Q: How much of your focus on offense is getting more out of your secondary scorers that you had at the beginning of the season?
CJ: "Listen, I love this team. I love the guys on this team. I believe in these kids. It's no secret if you're following us closely that we, as a team and certainly some individuals, not shooting the ball as well as their capable of or as well as they have in prior stretches of the season."
"When you make a concerted effort to alter and tweak your roster to make it better offensively to be able to score the ball better, you have to give up something usually. We've given up a little bit of our girth, and our size to be able to score it better. When that scoring's not happening, it compounds because we're not as good defensively as maybe we've been in years past. So, we can't rely on turning defense into offense like we've done in the past as much. Certainly, we're trying, and that's the goal."
"But, at the end of the day, we've got to figure out a way to score at the rim. That was an issue against Florida, and they've got great size. In that particular game, I didn't think it was altered because of their size. We just tricked off some contested shots at the rim. It gets in your head a little bit, and I can see it in their body language. We had some looks that just didn't go down for us, and it can be frustrating for everybody in the building. Certainly, our fan base can see it. Our players can see it. Our job is to instill confidence in them and to have short memories, and to help them to try and get even better looks on every possession that we have."
Q: Ole Miss has some talented guards, but how important is it to defend Ole Miss forward Jaemyn Brakefield. How tough of a matchup is he?
CJ: "That's one of the things that makes Ole Miss so good is their balance. You bring up [the guards] [Sean] Pedulla and [Jaylen] Murray, and certainly they deserve a ton [of credit] because of their ability on both sides of the floor. They're tough-minded guards, and they can score the ball in different ways. They're starting together now, and they're playing off one another."
"But, I think it'd be a big mistake to just focus on those two guys because of the balance that they've created with their team. They've got plenty of guys that are capable, and certainly Brakefield is one of them. He's playing at a high level. He's playing how you'd expect a guy with that much talent, that much experience and that much pride to play for his team. He's having a really good season, especially lately."
Q: KeShawn Murphy has handled himself well at the five, has he surprised you with how well he's adapted to that role?
CJ: "It hasn't to be frank with you. I can see the talent obviously because of the access I've had to him since I've been here. I know people are tired of hearing about it, but the injuries have prevented him from playing the minutes that he needed to get his talent on the floor. He had some really tough breaks that way. Knock on wood, he's been injury free, and he's getting comfortable with being a big minute guy. We've talked about that he's a redshirt junior, but he might as well be a freshman in terms of experience, or at least a younger sophomore."
"But it doesn't surprise me. He's very skilled, and he's invested. The whole program knows how much he's invested, how much he cares and how productive he was heading into the season. The way we play lends itself to him to being able to play the five for us. We do a lot of trapping when the ball goes inside so that he doesn't have to fight some bigger dudes one-on-one defensively in the post. Him having some advantages offensively against some other big guys with his ability to get into that midrange and bring those bigs away from the basket and not just try to back those guys down which would make it easier for the bigs to guard him. His touch from 6-to-16 feet is kind of old-school that way. We're happy for him. Certainly, it's about winning, and he's about winning. But, at the same time, he's become a reliable guy for us this season."
Q: Do you feel like Ole Miss has changed much since you played them last?
CJ: "Their structure is the same. The way they play in terms of their sets. Everybody tweaks and adds as the season progresses, but their foundation of motion and man-to-man defense and toughness-and-togetherness is evident on the film."
"They're better than they were the last time that we played against them. I think they've got a confident group. They've altered their starting lineup, placing [Jaylen] Murray in there rather than him coming off the bench. I think that's probably helped them as well, at least from the outside looking in."
"We know we're going to go into a ruckus environment, and I'm excited for that opportunity. I'm excited for our team to be able to play in this game that way. We've had a lot of road success. We've had a lot of success away from home this year, probably more than we've had at home if you want to really drill down into it. We don't like the fact that our home record in the league isn't better than it is, but it should give us great confidence in preparing to go into an SEC road game because of the success that we've had on the road."
Q: You've played in some tough environments this year. What's your message to your team going to be as you take on Ole Miss on the road coming off a tough loss?
CJ: "That's a good question. I've got a few hours before I have to figure out exactly how we'll start the process here this afternoon of preparing for this game. Yeah, we understand the rivalry part, and it's important to us. But, at the same time, we've got seven games left. We're 17-7. I don't take the time to dig this stuff up, but many people of my staff maybe have too much time on their hands. Apparently, we're 17-3 against teams that aren't in the top six in the NET. So, if you look at that, I would imagine most, not all, but most college teams across the country would love to have that record. We've got 11 top 100 KenPom wins, which again I don't know where that ranks. I have no idea, but I'd imagine it's up there. We're disappointed in not having a better record against the top six in the NET."
"Every game's a Super Bowl for us. I've been saying that since I arrived with the way we prepare, and with the way we go about getting ready for these games. They don't always go our way. We certainly would've loved to have a couple of those bigger home games with wins on our resume rather than losses. We're disappointed, it tears me up inside that's the case. But, at the same time, we've got lots of opportunities left. We've got at least eight, and they're all going to be high-level challenges and high-level opportunities. We've put ourselves in position to control our own destiny, and that's what you want. Every goal that we have for this particular team, and the goals are higher than they've been since I've arrived, are all still attainable. At the end of the day, we've got to win games. We've got to win games, and we've got plenty of them left to win. It starts Saturday."
2024-25 Mississippi State Men's Basketball
Media Session – February 13, 2025
Head Coach Chris Jans
Q: What stands out from watching film over the last few games, other than a lack of confidence?
CJ: "We go through spurts offensively in games that puts us behind the eight ball. You never know when they're going to come, obviously. If we did, we'd do everything we could to avoid it. But, we get out of sorts. It's not one person."
"Like I said after the [Florida] game, we were not balanced offensively; even in the first half when the game was close. Unfortunately, this team when things aren't going well offensively, it affects other areas of our game. Every coach talks about having teams that understand that your mood, your personality and your effort can't change regardless of what's going on, on the offensive end. It's a great theory. Certainly, I've had teams that are better than others at it, but I think that individually which leads to collectively to us having some of that in us. And, it can't in a league like the SEC particularly this year, you're going to have stretches where you have some costly turnovers, some poor shooting and some frustration. You've got to sprint back, build your defense and rely on that. We've had times where that wasn't the case, and it's proved costly for us."
"The start of the second half [against Florida] looking back at the video, our get back defense, I think 12 or 13 of the points in that run were because of going from offense-to-defense and not setting our defense. Some people having some breakdowns in their responsibilities of doing that. Then, we turned it over I think six of our first nine possessions offensively. When you're turning it over on offense, that leads to runouts by the other team. Combined with what I said about our get back defense in general, that particular game got away from us. Big picture, people talk about how our defensive numbers aren't as good, and they're not. Sometimes, there's a lot that goes into that. Sometimes, your offense directly leads to poor defensive possessions as well."
Q: How much of your focus on offense is getting more out of your secondary scorers that you had at the beginning of the season?
CJ: "Listen, I love this team. I love the guys on this team. I believe in these kids. It's no secret if you're following us closely that we, as a team and certainly some individuals, not shooting the ball as well as their capable of or as well as they have in prior stretches of the season."
"When you make a concerted effort to alter and tweak your roster to make it better offensively to be able to score the ball better, you have to give up something usually. We've given up a little bit of our girth, and our size to be able to score it better. When that scoring's not happening, it compounds because we're not as good defensively as maybe we've been in years past. So, we can't rely on turning defense into offense like we've done in the past as much. Certainly, we're trying, and that's the goal."
"But, at the end of the day, we've got to figure out a way to score at the rim. That was an issue against Florida, and they've got great size. In that particular game, I didn't think it was altered because of their size. We just tricked off some contested shots at the rim. It gets in your head a little bit, and I can see it in their body language. We had some looks that just didn't go down for us, and it can be frustrating for everybody in the building. Certainly, our fan base can see it. Our players can see it. Our job is to instill confidence in them and to have short memories, and to help them to try and get even better looks on every possession that we have."
Q: Ole Miss has some talented guards, but how important is it to defend Ole Miss forward Jaemyn Brakefield. How tough of a matchup is he?
CJ: "That's one of the things that makes Ole Miss so good is their balance. You bring up [the guards] [Sean] Pedulla and [Jaylen] Murray, and certainly they deserve a ton [of credit] because of their ability on both sides of the floor. They're tough-minded guards, and they can score the ball in different ways. They're starting together now, and they're playing off one another."
"But, I think it'd be a big mistake to just focus on those two guys because of the balance that they've created with their team. They've got plenty of guys that are capable, and certainly Brakefield is one of them. He's playing at a high level. He's playing how you'd expect a guy with that much talent, that much experience and that much pride to play for his team. He's having a really good season, especially lately."
Q: KeShawn Murphy has handled himself well at the five, has he surprised you with how well he's adapted to that role?
CJ: "It hasn't to be frank with you. I can see the talent obviously because of the access I've had to him since I've been here. I know people are tired of hearing about it, but the injuries have prevented him from playing the minutes that he needed to get his talent on the floor. He had some really tough breaks that way. Knock on wood, he's been injury free, and he's getting comfortable with being a big minute guy. We've talked about that he's a redshirt junior, but he might as well be a freshman in terms of experience, or at least a younger sophomore."
"But it doesn't surprise me. He's very skilled, and he's invested. The whole program knows how much he's invested, how much he cares and how productive he was heading into the season. The way we play lends itself to him to being able to play the five for us. We do a lot of trapping when the ball goes inside so that he doesn't have to fight some bigger dudes one-on-one defensively in the post. Him having some advantages offensively against some other big guys with his ability to get into that midrange and bring those bigs away from the basket and not just try to back those guys down which would make it easier for the bigs to guard him. His touch from 6-to-16 feet is kind of old-school that way. We're happy for him. Certainly, it's about winning, and he's about winning. But, at the same time, he's become a reliable guy for us this season."
Q: Do you feel like Ole Miss has changed much since you played them last?
CJ: "Their structure is the same. The way they play in terms of their sets. Everybody tweaks and adds as the season progresses, but their foundation of motion and man-to-man defense and toughness-and-togetherness is evident on the film."
"They're better than they were the last time that we played against them. I think they've got a confident group. They've altered their starting lineup, placing [Jaylen] Murray in there rather than him coming off the bench. I think that's probably helped them as well, at least from the outside looking in."
"We know we're going to go into a ruckus environment, and I'm excited for that opportunity. I'm excited for our team to be able to play in this game that way. We've had a lot of road success. We've had a lot of success away from home this year, probably more than we've had at home if you want to really drill down into it. We don't like the fact that our home record in the league isn't better than it is, but it should give us great confidence in preparing to go into an SEC road game because of the success that we've had on the road."
Q: You've played in some tough environments this year. What's your message to your team going to be as you take on Ole Miss on the road coming off a tough loss?
CJ: "That's a good question. I've got a few hours before I have to figure out exactly how we'll start the process here this afternoon of preparing for this game. Yeah, we understand the rivalry part, and it's important to us. But, at the same time, we've got seven games left. We're 17-7. I don't take the time to dig this stuff up, but many people of my staff maybe have too much time on their hands. Apparently, we're 17-3 against teams that aren't in the top six in the NET. So, if you look at that, I would imagine most, not all, but most college teams across the country would love to have that record. We've got 11 top 100 KenPom wins, which again I don't know where that ranks. I have no idea, but I'd imagine it's up there. We're disappointed in not having a better record against the top six in the NET."
"Every game's a Super Bowl for us. I've been saying that since I arrived with the way we prepare, and with the way we go about getting ready for these games. They don't always go our way. We certainly would've loved to have a couple of those bigger home games with wins on our resume rather than losses. We're disappointed, it tears me up inside that's the case. But, at the same time, we've got lots of opportunities left. We've got at least eight, and they're all going to be high-level challenges and high-level opportunities. We've put ourselves in position to control our own destiny, and that's what you want. Every goal that we have for this particular team, and the goals are higher than they've been since I've arrived, are all still attainable. At the end of the day, we've got to win games. We've got to win games, and we've got plenty of them left to win. It starts Saturday."
Josh Hubbard - "I'm Back"
Friday, April 17
MEN'S BASKETBALL | Chris Jans & Players SEC Tournament Postgame vs. Auburn - 3/11/26
Thursday, March 12
MEN'S BASKETBALL | Chris Jans Media Session - 3/9/26
Monday, March 09
MEN'S BASKETBALL | Josh Hubbard & Ja'Borri McGhee Postgame Press Conference vs. Georgia - 3/7/26
Sunday, March 08