Everything Chris Jans said in Monday's pre-SEC Tournament press conference

After ending the regular season in a slump, Mississippi State seeks to recharge the batteries for the postseason. That postseason for the Bulldogs (20-11) begins Wednesday in Nashville, Tenn., at the SEC Tournament.

The Bulldogs are the 10th seed in the event and face 15th-seeded LSU (14=17) in a 6 p.m. tip-off. Mississippi State just faced LSU back on March 1st and captured an 81-69 victory at Humphrey Coliseum.

On Monday evening, Mississippi State head coach Chris Jans met with the media to discuss the LSU Tigers among other topics:

Q: We’ve seen this team play some zone this year and it worked against Arkansas. Is that something you may choose to do more of to help the defensive side of things or it is just a game-by-game situation?
Jans: Yeah, we’ve played some zone throughout the season. Probably had more possessions of zone in that particular game. It was more of a junk look than an actual old-school zone, not to get into the weeds of it. But we’re down like that and you are on the road, you’re looking for something to disrupt them and get them out of their rhythm. It almost worked. They struggled a few possessions but in the end, they scored enough, obviously, to keep us at bay. Who knows what will be required in Nashville or after that?

Q: Claudell Harris had a big game against Arkansas. What have you seen from him lately?
Jans: I think at this point in your career when you are in that position, you made a conscience move to go to a higher level than he’s experienced in the past. From talking to him and his parents in the (recruiting) process and even since, playing in the NCAA Tournament was a big reason why he made the change that he did. He wanted to have that experience and I think he understood that because of moving up a level, maybe his numbers would be as glossy as they were in his previous three seasons.

It’s one of those things in life where it is easy to say but a little more difficult when you are actually going through it because he’s been used to basically the leading scorer or one of the leading scorers. That’s an adjustment for anybody to make and he’s not the only one in college basketball going through it. But he’s definitely hit the reset button. You can see it with his approach in practice. Happy for him. Certainly he’s not happy about the end result but hopefully, it is something he will continue doing where we are just a better team when him and a couple of other guys are making baskets for us.

Q: Do you feel like this is a team that could possibly go make a run in the postseason?
Jans: I don’t know. They are resilient from what I see and hear. From the time I get to spend with them, they’ve got a good vibe. They like each other. We’re all human and when things don’t go the way we want them for us, individually, unfortunately, for young people it stunts them a little bit. It gets them off track. We’ve had some of that and I’m sure every team has had some of that in the middle of games when we’re all trying to achieve one singular goal at that time, which is to win. That’s popped up here and there throughout the season. We’re certainly trying to learn and grow from that, and avoid those situations.

But like I’ve said all along, I haven’t lost any faith in this group. We’re disappointed with some of the results we’ve had down the stretch. But what everyone doesn’t see is their attitude when they get back to work, get back to together, get back on the practice court. I don’t think they’ve lost any confidence in what we’re doing. I don’t think they’ve lost any confidence in themselves or our team. Now we just have to go prove it.

Q: Your thoughts on Cameron Matthews and Josh Hubbard winning SEC honors today?
Jans: Both very deserving in their own rights. Happy for each of them and their families to be recognized for the rewards and honors they received today. It doesn’t surprise me and I don’t think it surprised anyone in the room that both of them were acknowledged for their play this season. It always good to see at the end of the year to see the teams. I think it is a different format this year with the three teams of five instead of having two teams with seven or eight.

Q: With the team already having a spot in the NCAA Tournament, what are the ambitions for your team at the SEC Tournament?
Jans: Win games. Win games. That’s the mantra, that’s the goal and win as many games as we can. Does that mean we are playing on Sunday? Hope so. But we want to just focus on LSU and winning that basketball game. Then we will have plenty of time to prepare to win the next game against Missouri if we’re successful in the first game. It’s tried and true. We are going to focus on what we can control and right now that’s our preparation for LSU.

Just to get that feeling back. We lost in overtime to Texas and then go down to Arkansas and lose. When the ball is in the air and the buzzer goes off, those are hard. You win those games and the mood and the vibe and the feel is completely different. That’s just the way this game is. I’ve been on both sides of it where you get a bounce or a shot and it changes everything. By how you are perceived, how you feel, how others around you feel.

My job is to make sure it doesn’t just rip our hearts out. That it doesn’t make us not believe in who we are and what we’ve done. I feel good about us going in. I don’t feel good about some of the results. Don’t get me wrong. But you can’t sit in it too long. You just can’t. As much has my personality is to be upset about it, I wouldn’t be doing my team any favors by continuing to dwell on it and keep bringing it up. They know. We’ve had our discussions about it and discussions and film. We finished practice today before we head to Nashville tonight and we had a great, focused practice, and that’s exactly what I expected us to have.

Q: How different is it preparing for a second matchup with a team compared to the first matchup?
Jans: It’s nice, to be honest with you. That was third to last game of the regular season so they are familiar with all of us. There will be tweaks made since we’ve played and I am sure there will be tweaks we haven’t seen as the game unfolds on Wednesday. But it is nice and I imagine they feel the same way, not having to start over from scratch, especially since we played them so recently in terms of just the time and sensitivity you have to spend. Missouri will be a little different if we get to that point because it’s been so long since we played them.

Q: What have you seen from LSU lately and what did you learn from that first matchup?
Jans: They played us very well in our barn. They had the upper hand for the majority of how many ever minutes. We went on a run there in the second half and got some separation before we were able to close it out. But I felt like they were in control for a lot of early minutes and the first half, in general. So they were pretty good and that sales. Hey, we played them toe-to-toe in their barn and now we are going to a neutral site.

At this point they are not making the NCAA Tournament unless they go on a run and win the tournament championship. Like I said earlier in the season, that’s a different animal you have to deal with. We have to understand that. We just got to play better. I am sure both of us feel the same way. You got to learn from what worked last time and what didn’t. Certainly the chess match is what are they going to run and what are we going to run.

Q: What are your concern levels with the defensive issues?
Jans: Our defense has been a concern for quite some time. It doesn’t matter where we’re playing. We’ve had some struggles. Compared to our first year we were 9th (defensively) and our second year was 22nd. We knew we were going to take a dip but certainly didn’t want to take this big of a depth with our numbers, metrics, etc. I remember a couple of weeks ago saying to the radio folks and not in here that I thought our defense was better than our numbers and then we went out, before Ole Miss or after Ole Miss, and I believe it was in that stretch where we played really well.

Then for whatever reason, we did not follow that up. This isn’t coach speak but at the end of the day it’s my responsibility. It’s my job to figure it out and equally important to get them to play with the type of effort and motor that is required the way we want to play, and to play this particular defense. It hasn’t been good enough. We can point fingers and talk about a lot of different factors why. But at the end of the day, it’s a bottom-line deal. I try my best to shore up as much as I can in a short time period before we play in Nashville and before we lay in the NCAA Tournament so we can be better on the court.