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Mississippi State

Chris Jans ‘sensed’ Mississippi State would struggle vs. Missouri

Barkley-Truaxby:Barkley Truax•02/02/25•

BarkleyTruax

Chris Jans, Mississippi State | Caitie McMekin/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
(Caitie McMekin/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images) Mississippi State head coach Chris Jans yells to Mississippi State's Josh Hubbard (12) during a men’s college basketball game between Tennessee and Mississippi State at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025.

No. 14 Mississippi State was unable to defend home court against No. 20 Missouri on Saturday, falling to the Tigers 88-61.

After the game, Bulldogs head coach Chris Jans called Missouri’s performance “dominating,” and gave credit to Tigers head coach Dennis Gates in the process. Jans saw the writing on the wall before the game began.

“We knew they were a really good basketball team before the ball was tipped,” Jans told reporters. “I told everybody that would listen to me that they’re the best team in the country, not just the SEC, that nobody’s talking about. I know they’re ranked 20th, but they just looked really, really good to me all year long, especially on tape in their recent games.

“Unfortunately, I sensed it a little bit. I tried to do something about it verbally with a couple of guys before the ball was tipped. Usually you can settle in and the competitive juices will take over.”

That did not happen for Mississippi State. Trailing 35-30, the Tigers went on to finish the first half on a 10-1 run.

“It was a bad stretch for us,” Jans said of the late first half run. “It just took the wind out of the crowd sails, certainly. At halftime you’re doing what you can do to try to get them to understand there’s a lot of basketball left, and we’re going to have to really take it segment by segment. Can’t get it back, all at once.”

Mississippi State cut the lead to 10, but it “was just downhill” for the Bulldogs after that.

The Bulldogs were led in scoring by Josh Hubbard and his game-high 24 points. He made six 3-pointers during the losing effort. KeShawn Murphy came off the bench to contribute 16 points of Mississippi State’s efforts, but the duo were the only two of Jans’ players who scored in double figures on Saturday. The next closest were Claudell Harris Jr. and Cameron Matthews, who each contributed six points a piece.

Mississippi State’s loss to Missouri serves as its third loss in four games, and have lost two-straight at home.

Luckily for the Bulldogs, they will have some time to regroup as they’re on a bye this week and won’t return to action until Saturday. They’re set to travel to Athens to take on Georgia for their next matchup before returning home to host Florida the following Tuesday.