WATCH: Coach Jans Media Session
January 19, 2026 | Men's Basketball
2025-26 Mississippi State Men's Basketball Quotes
Media Session – January 19, 2026
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Mississippi State Head Coach Chris Jans
Q: How much more trust has there been with Jamarion Davis-Fleming after the way that he's started out in SEC play?
 CJ: "He deserved to start the second half [against Ole Miss]. He played well in the first [half]. It's one of those games where it's real easy, one of the coaches assigned to that will come up to me at halftime and say 'Same starters, right?' More often than not, most coaches start the same starting lineups, but it's something we've been talking about lately, which obviously just makes common sense and doesn't mean you have to. A lot of it depends on foul situations certainly come into play but also who's playing the best. Then, even more importantly, which group of guys or combinations of guards or forwards are playing the best. I thought Jamar obviously had a great game. He performed well in the second half too."Â
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Q: One of Jayden Epps' responses after Ole Miss game was how the team needs to put together 40 minutes. How do you as a coach get the players to focus on putting together 40 minutes on a consistent basis?Â
CJ: "It's a great question. I don't have all the data in front of me, but I was pondering that yesterday and tried to find a way to approach our guys today. I'll have it at my fingertips obviously before we go to film. In SEC play like the early returns from what I'm asking for in terms of data, it's like two different teams. Defensively, focusing on just that, our first half defense in the five SEC games in what we look at the four factors, etcetera, total efficiency is really good. Like really good, across the country good, but the second half is the other end of the spectrum. It's been poor, and that's very frustrating."Â
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"So, as coaches and players, we got to recognize that obviously. It's easy to do that, but now how do we fix it? There certainly are a lot of suggestions on how to fix it. Play more guys, maybe we're tired, which we do sometimes in terms of changing up the scheme. We'll do that plenty of times in the second half. We did it multiple times in the last 10 minutes of the Ole Miss game in terms of how we tried to defend ball screens, and how we played zone. Playing zone to man in the same possession, which we've done quite a bit this year that most fans don't see that, but that's a call that we have of just trying to put our guys in the best position possible."
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"The discrepancy between the halves is crazy. I mean, it's a crazy gap. It's the same team, it's the same players and it's the same coaches. So, that's what we're trying to do is to figure out how we can play better longer. If the games were 25 minutes, they're not obviously, but if they were I think our record would be different. Unfortunately, that's not how the games are played so we all must understand what's going on and try to fix it."Â
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Q: How has Sergej Macura developed during his first season of college basketball?Â
CJ: "Again, you know me, I don't like to speak for them but from watching him, I think the game has just slowed down. I mean that's probably for lack of a better term when guys start getting it, you can just see that the game from their perspective, it just slows down a little bit."
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"If you remember when he first got here at least in the games, he was rushed. He would throw errant passes. He would get flustered a little bit at times and play too fast. I think the game has slowed down for him. He's getting more comfortable with athleticism and the length that's on the court."Â
"He's always been a guy that prior to coming here, he was one of the better athletes and slashers. Now, not that he's still not, but there's a lot of other guys out there that can do the same things. Certainly, with him not being here in June and July and having just knowledge of the system, the terminology, the expectations is helpful. But, like I've been saying the whole time, I love coaching Serg. He's a throwback, he's coachable and he's all about the team. He wants to win, he cares and I'm glad he's with us."Â
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Q: How do you prepare for Texas A&M knowing they have a balanced attack with so many guys that average in double figures and score the ball so well?
CJ: "Yeah, I think they have six if I'm not mistaken, which is unheard of. That means they're scoring a lot of points as well if you have six guys that are averaging double figures. They play both ends, and they put a lot of pressure on you all the time. They put pressure that you don't see very often. If you miss a shot, they're picking you up and sometimes trapping you. You miss a free throw, they're picking you up and sometimes trapping you."
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"I don't know their calls, and I don't know their system. I'm learning it, but they just give you so many different looks defensively, both in the full court and even in the half court. Sometimes, they'll dial it back. Then, all of the sudden, they're in you, they're in you, they're in you. Then, they're not. It makes the game a lot of start and stop. There's a lot of sputtering at times, and it's obviously all by design. So again, it's a heck of a challenge. I'm looking forward to the next two days of trying to get our guys in the best position to handle the situation that they're in."
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Q: You mentioned a tale of two halves. What's your messaging to the team when you're going through these things, and how can you ensure that your team play two consistent halves?
CJ: "Yeah, we talk about it long before it's happening because we've already been through it. And so, we talk about it in practice, and we talk about it in shootaround. Certainly, there's another way to do it and to ignore it, but I tried that with this group. It didn't work. So now, we have to address it, which we have long before Saturday night."
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"We talk about it in practice, 'Hey, we're halfway through. We've been really good, just like the games. We've got to finish. We've got to have this 20 minutes be like the second half of a game with our attention to detail, our intensity and our being assignment correct.' I don't know. If obviously I knew, I'd have already fixed it. We haven't been able to as a group, coaches and players combined, be able to unlock that answer, and we have to."
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"I love the way we've started games. People talk about losing after a double-digit lead. When you have a double-digit lead early in games, that happens more frequently than you think against really good teams. Every team we play the rest of the year is going to be a really good team. It's just more sustaining our level of play. It's not how big our lead was or wasn't. To me, it's more just playing at a higher level for longer. That's what we're not doing. I don't want to change how we've started games. Again, I'm going to have all the data here shortly, but our numbers and the things that we think are important for this team have been really good in SEC play in the first half. We just haven't been able to sustain it. We're trying to figure out different ways to make sure our guys understand what's going on. Then, obviously try to them fix the problem."
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Q: When Josh Hubbard and Jayden Epps are having off nights, what do you say to them to help them out, or do you have to say anything to them because they're both veteran players?
CJ: "Well, you can't predict it. So, how do you deal with it during the game? Then like you asked, what do you do postgame? I haven't physically seen either one of them since the game, but I've communicated with both of them individually. They're both great young people."
"They would be the first to tell you, 'I've got to play better, and I've got to perform better.' They're not shying away from that. We've just got to continue to figure out ways to put them in better positions to get cleaner looks. As a staff, that's our responsibility. Then, in the game, I'm trying to keep instilling confidence in them. They don't need me barking at them about missing shots. I mean, that's the one thing that I just don't believe in as a coach. In game you don't talk about that much. That isn't going to help. You can feel it in the arena at times when someone's off or misses a shot, the groan, the collective groan. The teammates and the coaches are trying to pick them up, or anybody for that matter. It doesn't have to be those two guys. They're both experienced guys, and they're going to be better next time. They're going to come back to work today and be ready to go."
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Media Session – January 19, 2026
Â
Mississippi State Head Coach Chris Jans
Q: How much more trust has there been with Jamarion Davis-Fleming after the way that he's started out in SEC play?
 CJ: "He deserved to start the second half [against Ole Miss]. He played well in the first [half]. It's one of those games where it's real easy, one of the coaches assigned to that will come up to me at halftime and say 'Same starters, right?' More often than not, most coaches start the same starting lineups, but it's something we've been talking about lately, which obviously just makes common sense and doesn't mean you have to. A lot of it depends on foul situations certainly come into play but also who's playing the best. Then, even more importantly, which group of guys or combinations of guards or forwards are playing the best. I thought Jamar obviously had a great game. He performed well in the second half too."Â
Â
Q: One of Jayden Epps' responses after Ole Miss game was how the team needs to put together 40 minutes. How do you as a coach get the players to focus on putting together 40 minutes on a consistent basis?Â
CJ: "It's a great question. I don't have all the data in front of me, but I was pondering that yesterday and tried to find a way to approach our guys today. I'll have it at my fingertips obviously before we go to film. In SEC play like the early returns from what I'm asking for in terms of data, it's like two different teams. Defensively, focusing on just that, our first half defense in the five SEC games in what we look at the four factors, etcetera, total efficiency is really good. Like really good, across the country good, but the second half is the other end of the spectrum. It's been poor, and that's very frustrating."Â
Â
"So, as coaches and players, we got to recognize that obviously. It's easy to do that, but now how do we fix it? There certainly are a lot of suggestions on how to fix it. Play more guys, maybe we're tired, which we do sometimes in terms of changing up the scheme. We'll do that plenty of times in the second half. We did it multiple times in the last 10 minutes of the Ole Miss game in terms of how we tried to defend ball screens, and how we played zone. Playing zone to man in the same possession, which we've done quite a bit this year that most fans don't see that, but that's a call that we have of just trying to put our guys in the best position possible."
Â
"The discrepancy between the halves is crazy. I mean, it's a crazy gap. It's the same team, it's the same players and it's the same coaches. So, that's what we're trying to do is to figure out how we can play better longer. If the games were 25 minutes, they're not obviously, but if they were I think our record would be different. Unfortunately, that's not how the games are played so we all must understand what's going on and try to fix it."Â
Â
Q: How has Sergej Macura developed during his first season of college basketball?Â
CJ: "Again, you know me, I don't like to speak for them but from watching him, I think the game has just slowed down. I mean that's probably for lack of a better term when guys start getting it, you can just see that the game from their perspective, it just slows down a little bit."
Â
"If you remember when he first got here at least in the games, he was rushed. He would throw errant passes. He would get flustered a little bit at times and play too fast. I think the game has slowed down for him. He's getting more comfortable with athleticism and the length that's on the court."Â
"He's always been a guy that prior to coming here, he was one of the better athletes and slashers. Now, not that he's still not, but there's a lot of other guys out there that can do the same things. Certainly, with him not being here in June and July and having just knowledge of the system, the terminology, the expectations is helpful. But, like I've been saying the whole time, I love coaching Serg. He's a throwback, he's coachable and he's all about the team. He wants to win, he cares and I'm glad he's with us."Â
Â
Q: How do you prepare for Texas A&M knowing they have a balanced attack with so many guys that average in double figures and score the ball so well?
CJ: "Yeah, I think they have six if I'm not mistaken, which is unheard of. That means they're scoring a lot of points as well if you have six guys that are averaging double figures. They play both ends, and they put a lot of pressure on you all the time. They put pressure that you don't see very often. If you miss a shot, they're picking you up and sometimes trapping you. You miss a free throw, they're picking you up and sometimes trapping you."
Â
"I don't know their calls, and I don't know their system. I'm learning it, but they just give you so many different looks defensively, both in the full court and even in the half court. Sometimes, they'll dial it back. Then, all of the sudden, they're in you, they're in you, they're in you. Then, they're not. It makes the game a lot of start and stop. There's a lot of sputtering at times, and it's obviously all by design. So again, it's a heck of a challenge. I'm looking forward to the next two days of trying to get our guys in the best position to handle the situation that they're in."
Â
Q: You mentioned a tale of two halves. What's your messaging to the team when you're going through these things, and how can you ensure that your team play two consistent halves?
CJ: "Yeah, we talk about it long before it's happening because we've already been through it. And so, we talk about it in practice, and we talk about it in shootaround. Certainly, there's another way to do it and to ignore it, but I tried that with this group. It didn't work. So now, we have to address it, which we have long before Saturday night."
Â
"We talk about it in practice, 'Hey, we're halfway through. We've been really good, just like the games. We've got to finish. We've got to have this 20 minutes be like the second half of a game with our attention to detail, our intensity and our being assignment correct.' I don't know. If obviously I knew, I'd have already fixed it. We haven't been able to as a group, coaches and players combined, be able to unlock that answer, and we have to."
Â
"I love the way we've started games. People talk about losing after a double-digit lead. When you have a double-digit lead early in games, that happens more frequently than you think against really good teams. Every team we play the rest of the year is going to be a really good team. It's just more sustaining our level of play. It's not how big our lead was or wasn't. To me, it's more just playing at a higher level for longer. That's what we're not doing. I don't want to change how we've started games. Again, I'm going to have all the data here shortly, but our numbers and the things that we think are important for this team have been really good in SEC play in the first half. We just haven't been able to sustain it. We're trying to figure out different ways to make sure our guys understand what's going on. Then, obviously try to them fix the problem."
Â
Q: When Josh Hubbard and Jayden Epps are having off nights, what do you say to them to help them out, or do you have to say anything to them because they're both veteran players?
CJ: "Well, you can't predict it. So, how do you deal with it during the game? Then like you asked, what do you do postgame? I haven't physically seen either one of them since the game, but I've communicated with both of them individually. They're both great young people."
"They would be the first to tell you, 'I've got to play better, and I've got to perform better.' They're not shying away from that. We've just got to continue to figure out ways to put them in better positions to get cleaner looks. As a staff, that's our responsibility. Then, in the game, I'm trying to keep instilling confidence in them. They don't need me barking at them about missing shots. I mean, that's the one thing that I just don't believe in as a coach. In game you don't talk about that much. That isn't going to help. You can feel it in the arena at times when someone's off or misses a shot, the groan, the collective groan. The teammates and the coaches are trying to pick them up, or anybody for that matter. It doesn't have to be those two guys. They're both experienced guys, and they're going to be better next time. They're going to come back to work today and be ready to go."
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Players Mentioned
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/ Men's Basketball
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