WATCH: Coach Jans Media Session

STARKVILLE - Mississippi State head coach Chris Jans met with the media leading into Wednesday's practice to preview this weekend's matchup with Southeastern Louisiana.

Mississippi State Head Coach Chris Jans
Q: Are there any updates on Jayden Epps? I know he didn't travel with the team the other night.
CJ: "Like I said in Sioux Falls, Jayden unfortunately wasn't available for the game. He didn't travel, like you mentioned. We're hopeful that he'll be back sooner than later. That's all I have for an update on him for now."

Q: What are you looking for on Saturday to show an immediate response to last game?
CJ: "A lot, I'm looking for a lot. I'm looking for a lot here in about three hours when we regroup as a team. We got home late Monday night. It was a tough locker room and a tough flight home. This will be the first time that we're together as a group this afternoon when they're done with their academic responsibilities and weights. I'm hoping they have the right mindset. I can't make them have the right mindset. I'm hopeful that they're going to be a little gnarly and upset about the results, and more importantly, how we played. But I can't control that in terms of how they walk into the locker room. I can have some control over it once we get on the practice court, but that's got to be the mindset today, tomorrow, Friday and at 2 p.m. on Saturday."

"Certainly, the backdrop is like you mentioned, and I mentioned it in Sioux Falls in the postgame. It sounds simple, but that's where we're at. We've got to get better. There's lots of lessons to be learned from that particular game. For those who have been following us the last four years know that I'm fond of the saying, we love to win and learn. Everybody learns when they lose, that's the easy part. I don't want to have to do that. But unfortunately, that's where we're at. We can't change the outcome. We've got to get a ton of growth, and there are tons of opportunities individually and collectively for us to grow from this game."

"I knew when I scheduled this game that it was going to be an uphill challenge for a number of factors. One, the quality of their program, first and foremost. Two, it's in their backyard. If anyone was there, it was 97, 98 percent Iowa State fans. It was a great environment, and I'm really glad [we played the game]. I didn't like the results, but it was a cool place to play. I've heard much about the Pentagon, and it was a really neat setting. Once the ball was tipped, it wasn't as much fun, obviously."

"But we're going to find out a little bit about what we're made of with this group's mentality is and what their approach is going to be. It's a marathon season. There's a lot of basketball to be played, and we've got a fork in the road early. How are we going to react to some adversity? How are we going to respond to getting beat, and especially in the way we got beat."

Q: How important will the leaders of this team like Josh Hubbard and Shawn Jones Jr. be over the next few days?
CJ: "Well, we're going to find out. It'll be, hopefully, a collective response. As much as we'd like to, we're not with them 24/7. So, what they talk about on their own if they do, and hopefully they do, I know they're going to have some time together leading up to practice. But, I can't control them that way. Certainly, you would hope that guys that have been around like Shawn and Josh like you mentioned will have some influence on what the approach needs to be, and what the mood needs to be. We'll see. I can't really speak on it because I haven't met with them yet."

Q: Did the number of turnovers surprise you against Iowa State?
CJ: "I'd say it shocked me more than surprised me. Going into the game, you're going to turn the ball over. I've never had a game where we didn't turn the ball over that I can recollect. We certainly understand that as basketball players and people who follow the sport."

"We knew how Iowa State was going to defend us. We played the Houston game for a number of reasons, but one of them was to prepare for playing Iowa State in a real game. We thought that those lessons learned in that game would really help us grow and be better the next time playing a similar type of approach defensively, but it obviously didn't. 15 turnovers in a [first] half, 26 for the game. I never dreamt of that scenario. Going into the game in my mind, I was saying we could have 12 to 13 turnovers, and that's a win for us knowing that we would get some good looks if we took care of the ball."

"That's the thing. It's like a hard egg. You can get to the middle of it, and if you can break that eggshell, it's a little softer that way. We had a lot of possessions where it worked that way, we just didn't have enough of them. We shot the ball pretty darn well. We shot from three, we just didn't get enough shots on goal. Credit to them, it's what they do. We knew and they knew. They didn't changed their scheme, it's what they do. It's their number one priority. It was the little battle, if you will, of the little battles within the game. That was the biggest difference that they imposed their defensive tactics on us better than we handled it. That was the storyline of the game, obviously, there was no question about it."

Q: What have you seen from Southeastern Louisiana so far on tape?
CJ: "Yeah, I started last night. As soon as we're done here, I'll meet with our staff that does advanced scouting. In reality, it doesn't matter who we're playing on Saturday. We're going to prepare for them like we prepare for every game. But, it's about us, and our response. What we do today, tomorrow, Friday and most importantly when we tip the ball at two o'clock on Saturday."

"We've played this team before, and they've played us. We just played North Alabama in the opener, and we were down nine [points] with 15 minutes left in the game. They had all the momentum. They're not a Power 4 team, and it's going to be the same scenario. Southeastern Louisiana's not a Power 4 team. I watched the Georgia Tech game last night. I'm sure their bench and their coaches thought they were going to win that game going into it, and certainly as it unfolded, I guarantee they had more confidence and thought they were going to win the game."

"I haven't gotten to the end yet and how it switched up, but their coaches are telling their players, 'Hey, Iowa State just turned them over 26 times.' They do the same thing, but in a completely different style. They full court press you. They mix up their fronts on how they trap and when they trap. So, if I'm their coach, and I know their coach, he's a great guy and a really good coach, they're showing them the film saying, 'Hey, although it's a different style, we're going to put pressure on them. We're going to force their decision making to be early and often.' So, they're licking their chops to have a chance to play us here to get a signature win."

"We shouldn't have any overconfidence whatsoever. Like I said for this long response, it doesn't matter who we're playing. We need to worry about us, and we need to get better. We need to play better than we did on Wednesday against North Alabama, and certainly better than we did on Monday against Iowa State. To me, that's what I'm focused on the most is our response to what just happened.

Q: Were there any signs in the preseason that this team might have a game like Monday's when it came to the number of turnovers?
CJ: "Yeah, there were signs. In the Houston exhibition game, they turned us over quite a bit. We had practices where we obviously track and stat everything you can imagine, maybe too much. But the information is the information. We had days where it was like, oh boy."

"This isn't a pass the buck statement at all. Those who know me know that's not my style. I thought we had done a pretty good job of developing some approaches with practice and emphasizing decision making with target passing and with putting them in situations where they're trapped by multiple people in different drills. Some that I've used before, and some that were new because we knew what we were going to face. So, obviously, we wanted to replicate it as best as we could. We didn't do a good enough job of replicating it or making it as 'Iowa State-like' as we should have in looking back in hindsight."

"The results are the results. Kudos to them and their staff for doing what they do at the highest level. Like I said earlier, we knew it [the Iowa State game] was going to be hard. As the game unfolded, it unfolded the way it needed to unfold to start the game. It was 29-27 with four and some change left [in the first half. Then, the floodgates opened, and they opened fast. It was an onslaught until the buzzer sounded at halftime. That's where the game was decided in my opinion."

Mississippi State University Athletics

WATCH: Coach Jans Media Session

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