WATCH: State head coach Chris Jans updates basketball practice, schedule and injuries

With basketball practice getting underway last week, Mississippi State head coach Chris Jans met with the media Tuesday morning to update the roster as well as touch on the now-finished 2023-24 schedule:

Q: We’ve noticed a different confidence level in Shakeel Moore this offseason. Was there a point last year or this offseason where you saw those changes?
Jans: Shak definitely had a couple of better games down the stretch. But he’s made the biggest strides this summer. Of all our players he had the best summer of all of them, just from the vibe he had every day, even statisically for the +/- and overall efficiency. He was by far our best player over the eight weeks of summer. Then in the fall he dipped a little bit and he had a nice little sitdown and he is back to where he was.

He rarely loses a sprint in practice. To me that is a really good sign of someone that is committed and competing all the time. It’s a benchmark for our whole team of where he’s at and how he is running in that regard. So we are excited for him ad hopefully he will continue.

Q: Your thoughts on Maroon Madness being held at the Columbus Air Force base?
Jans: First of all, excited about Maroon Madness. It is around the corner at the end of the week. It is a unique experience for all of us. I’ve been doing this for a long time and it is the first time for me, personally, to be on a military base for a basketball function. There are other teams that have played games in these types of settings but I’ve never been a part of it. On a personal level, I am looking forward to being a small part of the experience we are having.

What an awesome way for our program and our university to thank the military for what they do for us on a daily basis. I know there will be some people that are disappointed that it is not open to the public. But there’s so many people over there that we had to make that decision, just for crowd control. I think it will be a cool event and we are excited to do it.

We are trying to find ways to play in different areas of the state. We’ve been to Jackson. We’re going to go to Tupelo and we are going to play a road (exhibition) game at Southern Miss in Hattiesburg. We are doing the thing over in Columbus this Friday. Certainly that is something, as a staff, we are trying to do to make it easier for some people to watch the Bulldogs play and hopefully attract new fans along the way.

Q: Last year you were limited with depth at point guard but have added Josh Hubbard and Andrew Taylor to that spot. How has that helped to add that competition?
Jans: I hope so. I like it when we have tough decisions to make on who we are playing. That means we have depth. Everybody does it a little bit different. For me, I cherish it when I have teams that have competition all the way down the roster. I just think it breeds success. Nobody can relax and they know they have people scratching at their heels. It just makes for a more competitive practice on most days.

Then you are set up an injury or a foul issue whenever it is going to happen in that particular game or season and ultimately, it is always going to. So I just prefer it. Definitely, we have increased the competition out front and at other places along the roster. The good thing is that basketball has increasingly become more positionless. So playing two guards together that are primarily point guards is not very uncommon anymore. It is like signing a bunch of shortstops and farming them out. That is kind of how we feel about point guards, as well. That is a hard position to play and you got to have the size and toughness to move over and guard bigger guys. It makes us even better. But we have definitely increased the competition. Looking forward to the next few weeks to see how it comes out.

Q: Now that the schedule is complete, what are your impressions of the schedule?
Jans: Excited for it. I think it is more challenging than last season. We felt like we had a chance to be a good basketball team. End of the day, you got to try as best you can, and it is a lot of guess work, to put your team in position to have opportunities to have Quad 1, Quad 2 games. What our research says is that is what moves the needle more than anything else. So you got to be creative and try to find ways to create those Quad opportunities if it is playing someone on a neutral floor rather than at home.

I know it hurts a little bit and the fanbase wants more quality home games. You’ve heard this from coaches across the country that it is really hard to do that. At times, scheduling is very difficult. For whatever reason it is hard to get teams paired up and play. But I do believe that at the end of the day, we are going to have a great number of opportunities in the fall to hopefully get some wins that will look good in March if we are in that conversation.

Q: How is Tolu Smith approaching things going into his final season?
Jans: You know, he is such a hard worker. It is not as if it is because it is his last go-around, he’s upped the ante for his work ethic because it’s always been there. Even talking to coaches that coached him prior to me, that was the first thing that came out of their mouth was his work ethic, his love of the game, dedication. He is in there to the point to where if we are walking by, we tell him you got to get home and get off your feet. We are going to have plenty of practice opportunities.

But he is a very dedicated student-athlete. We’ve had a couple of conversations just in passing like prior to practice or after practice. The other day when we started official practice, I said to him this is your last first day of basketball. He was excited about it but at the same time, he didn’t love hearing it, as well. He is one of those types of guys that I believe given his best effort, hopefully he will have one of the better seasons he’s ever had. But I know for sure if anything doesn’t go well that it will be due to lack of effort, dedication and want to. He is just a wonderful kid. He is the leader of our team. He doesn’t always do it as vocally maybe as we would like him to do it. But he definitely does it by example.

Q: With the injuries to Dashawn Davis and KeShawn Murphy, any time table for their return?
Jans: When someone gets injured or has a surgery, we get a daily update from trainers and doctors. Rams (Davis) is in a position now where he is in a practice uniform and he is doing some things on the court 1-on-0 outside of basketball practice. He is starting to get into some of our non-contact portions of practice. I anticipate him being back on the floor sooner than later in terms of physical contact and full practice.

Then KeShawn still has a long way to go. We don’t expect him to be back until Christmas time. We are hopeful that his recovery and rehab goes well as it has thus far. So it could be possible for an earlier return. But in the end, I don’t rush them. Certainly, they come back on their own terms. We want them to be really confident in their bodies and their shape and their injured part of their body to get on that court and compete. So that is kind of where both of those guys are at.