Chris Jans reveals what identity of Mississippi State must be to win in SEC

Mississippi State won its first conference game of the season over rival Ole Miss over the weekend, and first-year head coach Chris Jans is doing some reflection on what he wants his team to look like.

He said the way the Bulldogs played in their 64-54 win over the Rebels was indicative of the physical basketball he wants to see him team play.

“That’s how we got to play,” Jans said. “That’s the way we’re constructed this particular year. That’s first thing I told him after the game — that was more like how I envision us playing. If we want to be successful, if we want to win games in this league, that’s just the way it’s gonna be.”

Ole Miss was held to only 35.8% on all field goals and a paltry 23.5% on 3-point attempts. The Bulldogs also forced 15 turnovers, including 12 steals.

Offensively, no player had more than 13 points but nine of 10 rotation players scored a point. The team is not built around an offensive dynamo so that type of distribution among teammates is key to scoring enough points to win in the conference.

“We’re not gonna win a bunch of games in the 70s and 80s,” Jans said. “We’re not built like that. We got to make it a possession game at times and start and stop if you will. We had 17 offensive rebounds and only nine turnovers. If we’re able to duplicate that going forward, we’ll have a chance in a lot of these games. But when we don’t have that intensity, when you don’t have that rock fight mentality, then it’s a struggle for us. We just don’t have a bunch of guys out there that could just break it off on their own and go get baskets. We got to work together and keep in our basketball personality.”