WATCH: Head coach Chris Jans talks rematch with LSU, Tolu Smith and Rams Davis

Mississippi State (19-12) opens SEC Tournament play in Nashville, Tenn., on Thursday and the stakes couldn’t be higher for the Bulldogs. Needing a win to secure an NCAA Tournament berth, Mississippi State faces LSU (17-14) with a noon tipoff on Thursday with the winner advancing to face top-seeded Tennessee on Friday.

Last month Mississippi State easily defeated LSU 87-67 in Baton Rouge, La., but it was also the last win for the Bulldogs, who enter the SEC Tournament on a four-game losing slide.

On Tuesday morning, head coach Chris Jans met with the media to discuss LSU along with other topics:

Q: After watching the film of the South Carolina game, what stood out to you regarding the success South Carolina had in the paint?
Jans: A bunch of things did. Overall by sheer numbers, it was a very poor performance by us, defensively, in terms of efficiency. There’s a lot that goes into that that comes out on the other side. That was really disappointing.

Going into the game we felt really good about our plan. We felt really good about our practices. Not to shy away from your question but I give them a lot of credit. (BJ) Mack and their freshman (Collin Murray-Boyles) played really well. They were 17 of 21 (shooting) with 19 rebounds between them and that’s a pretty dominating performance for their starting four and five and they had a lot to do with it. Both made some big-time moves and finishes. Mack showed the ability to not just be a pick-and-pop guy and to be able to maneuver a little bit going towards the basket and put our defense in some awkward situations at times.

You can’t place all the blame on our fours and fives. We’ve said over and over that our defense is not about certain matchups. There’s times where you want them to dominate that matchup. But overall, everybody is involved in guarding the ball and have responsibilities depending on what’s going on. We just didn’t do a very good job against South Carolina, in particular, against those two guys.

Q: How much of a sense of urgency do you feel your team has going into Thursday?
Jans: I don’t know. Time will tell. But our approach doesn’t change this week. I don’t want people out there listening to this and saying ‘why wouldn’t they be all in?’. I promise you because that’s kind of what we do. You can’t be more intense in preparing. You can’t watch more video.

We do our due dilligence every single time regardless of the opponent. We have a routine that we go through and it is a little different for each opponent depending on who the lead scout is and I have my own from game to game. Certainly everyone understands that. Most of these kids have played in conference tournaments and it’s just different. The intensity is different, what you’re playing for is different and it’s survive and advance or win or go home. Nobody wants to do that and everyone wants to stay as long as possible.

What you will see is just hyper-intense basketball games from everybody that is down there and we are going to be one of those teams that figures out ways to win games.

Q: Obviously some things are out of the team’s control. But is there a benchmark that you feel this team has to reach to make it to the NCAA Tournament?
Jans: I get asked that a lot about what I think and where we’re at and what we need. I see other coaches get in these environments and have these platforms and vouch for their team and why they should be included in the NCAA Tournament. I’ve got to believe that the committee members don’t pay any mind to that. I don’t think they really care what an individual coach thinks about his team and why they should be included.

If that was part of the process then I think we would all have some sort of avenue to go through to preach our case. So my answer is always the same that how I feel about our team and why I think we should be included right now or with whatever scenario comes next is irrelevant in my opinion. My focus needs to be on how I can get my team better and prepare them better rather than spending a bunch of time talking about why we should be in and comparing myself and our team’s resume to others.

These folks in that room are there for a reason and they have all the tools they need at their disposal. I know they’ve already for weeks been working on teams and evaluating teams and know the process fairly well. At the end of the day we’re just trying to win the next game and put ourselves in the best position possible.

Q: Your thoughts on Tolu Smith being first-team All-SEC after coming back from his injury?
Jans: I am happy for him. You never know how someone will respond to an injury and I said this when he came back. He’s been there, done that, and he knows what it takes to rehab and do his time because it is time consuming to come back from that serious of an injury and those types of surgery. It is no fun and you are doing it in the dark where nobody’s watching and nobody’s cheering for you.

It’s a long process and you just never know. Because of his experience and because of the type of person he is, he did it like a rock star. He listened, followed directions and fortunately, he came out the other side in a really good spot and was able to dive in fairly quickly and get back to his form.

I think it is a great testament to Tolu Smith as a competitor. As I’ve talked about many times, his work ethic is second to none. In the 31 years I’ve coached I can’t say that anyone has worked any harder than Tolu in the two years I’ve been around him. As a coach, that’s the type of young people you want to be around. Sometimes we feel like if this kid would just dedicate himself a little bit more then there would be a bigger horizon for him. But that’s not the case with Tolu. I never say that about him. He lives in the gym and he is all about the program and the team. He deserves all the accolades that he receives.

Q: Rams Davis has played better of late, much like he did towards the end of last season. Your thoughts on why he seems to pick up the pace this time of year?
Jans: Great question and I don’t know. I never try to be coy with you guys but if I knew, I would have fixed it and made sure he plays at that level all the time. But that’s not been the case. I love this version of Rams the best and I’ve said it all year long. We’re different when he’s engaged and is the head of the snake, defensively, and getting into the ball and dictating the ball and revving our engine on that particular possession.

And he plays better offensively when he does that. Offense is a lot about confidence and Rams is like a lot of players out there. When the ball goes through the net his confidence rises and when it doesn’t it goes the other way. That’s the biggest thing with him. To see that ball go through the net in both practice and the games, when that happens we get the best version of him. When he’s in that mode it really, really helps our team.

Q: Being in the SEC for your second year, how much better do you think the SEC is this year?
Jans: I’ve been asked this before with the unbalanced scheduling with the SEC and the number of teams. I am not sure if this is correct but it’s got to be hardest strength of schedule in our own league. It’s got to be one of the top two or three. I know it is luck of the draw and we play two and I would rather have it that way.

Even though our record may not be as glossy as it would if our strength of schedule would be lesser and who knows how it turns out. But those opportunities are what you’re looking for. I believe that the league definitely is better than last year. In anticipation of the season I was asked that question and that was my answer.

I felt like it may not have been quite as heavy on the top end teams as maybe some years. But folks that finished in the middle or towards the end of last year I thought had really improved their roster additions. There are so many new coaches and being in that second year, there’s that comfort level and a better understanding the league a little bit better. Experience is something you can’t teach and it can only help. I do believe from top to bottom it’s just better. There’s more parity and more teams that can beat each other every single night.

Q: We’ve seen Cameron Matthews bring the ball up a lot here lately. Is that something you prefer to have Matthews going downhill more?
Jans: Yeah we’ve been doing that off and on all year long. We have a number of sets and actions we feel like with Cam or even KeShawn (Murphy) up there. KeShawn has similar actions and Cam has a different style of play. But they are similar pieces on the board. There’s some things they do that we feel like puts pressure on the defense and gets guys like Josh (Hubbard) and Rams off the ball and maybe try to either use that as spacers or as decoys to try to help some other guys to be in position to score.

It’s been fairly successful for us. We’ve added some things to it as the season has progressed. I definitely like the fact that it gives us a different look at times.

Q: Anything different you see from LSU compared to your first meeting with them?
Jans: They’ve had really good 3 point shooting numbers the majority of the year. When you first look at them that is what you see. They’ve shot the 3 as a group and they’re still doing that, percentage-wise. But from what I see in the four games they’ve played since us, they’re just a little more aggressive, offensively, in terms of pushing the basketball and trying to score early in quick fast-break situations.

Even in the halfcourt or just downhill, more aggressive trying to get to the rim, get to the free throw line. Not relying maybe on as many 3 point attempts that they were earlier in the season. Most teams as the season winds down will try to score a little bit more in transition because most teams are a little bit better in the halfcourt when you get to this point. Now you are playing teams for the second or third time and the familiarity of one another and what they are running makes it harder to score sometimes in the halfcourt. So you will see them push and teams try to score in transition more down the stretch.