Chris Jans congratulates Tolu Smith on reaching 1,000 career points

Mississippi State senior forward Tolu Smith achieved quite the milestone this weekend as he passed the 1,000-point mark for his career. While he’s only been a part of his journey for 15 games, though, Chris Jans the accomplishment has not surprised him at all because of who he knows Smith is.

Jans congratulated Smith during a press conference after the Bulldogs defeated Ole Miss 65-54 over the weekend. He said he’s unsurprised because of how hard Smith works, even on his off days. Still, he was happy for his star to achieve this feat because of who he is as a player, person, and leader in Starkville.

“That’s a great milestone for Tolu. Extremely happy for him,” said Jans. “He works so hard on his game that we have to tell him to get off his feet. I mean I’ll tell him on the weekends that he’s on a minutes restriction. He can’t be on the floor for more than 30, 40 minutes at a time on our off days. He’s got to get off his feet and relax because of his history.”

“But he cares so much,” Jans said. “He’s developed into an emerging leader with the rest of his teammates. And, because he works so hard on a daily basis, he has earned that right.”

After spending a year at WKU before sitting out in 2019-2020, Smith transferred to Mississippi State and has spent the last three seasons with the Bulldogs. In that time, he has averaged 13.7 points and 7.6 rebounds on 58% shooting from the field. The ’22-’23 campaign is on pace to be his best, though, as he’s tied for a career-high in points per game (14.2) while shooting a career-best from the field (59.5%) and grabbing 7.8 boards per game.

Jans is just happy that, after taking over for the Bulldogs, Smith chose to stay with the program. Now, with Smith accomplishing this under him, Jans couldn’t be more proud for his man in the middle.

“He’s a wonderful human being and he stuck with us,” Jans said. “We’re real happy for him.”