Chris Jans expresses frustration over Mississippi State's poor three-point shooting

Mississippi State suffered its second straight loss and fifth in a six-game stretch after falling 69-63 at Auburn this weekend. Their abysmal day from distance on The Plains was a big part of that as it was hard for Chris Jans to not express his dissatisfaction with that aspect of their offense after the game.

During his postgame press conference, Jans said the Bulldogs were working against the numbers with how they shot from distance. In the end, though, he liked their shot selection. They just didn’t make any to put themselves in a better position.

“I’m not sure how many college basketball games have been won when you’re 0-18 from the three-point line. Especially on the road,” said Jans. “But I thought we took really good shots. I don’t remember. (There was) maybe one shot where it wasn’t a rhythm shot and (we) were open…We just didn’t knock them down.”

Amidst a 21-56 (37.5%) shooting day from the field, the Bulldogs shot 0-18 from deep. Four players in DJ Jeffries, DaShawn Davis, Eric Reed Jr., and Shakeel Moore each shot and missed three or more attempts from distance. Add that to the team’s other four recent losses and Mississippi State is just 27 of their last 106 attempts from three for a percentage of 25.5%.

In comparison, their five opponents shot 50-133 for 37.8%. That includes the Tigers, who made 44% of their shots from distance and had three players make two or more. That’s just how things go sometimes, though, from what Jans said. Some teams can go cold at the wrong time while an opponent can get hot at the perfect moment.

“I hate to say this but it just becomes contagious, you know? When you start making free throws, other people make them. You struggle from the three-point line and sometimes it works that way too,” said Jans. “It became contagious for Auburn in a good way. They shot the cover off the ball, made some tough shots…They made them. They made a lot of threes tonight.”

Jans doesn’t need the Bulldogs to be elite from behind the arc. They have gone a respectable 12-5 this season while shooting just 28.8% on the year. Still, with some of the perimeter-based offenses within the SEC, it won’t hurt Mississippi State to find better success from three as try to get back in the win column moving forward.