WATCH: Coach Jans Media Session

2025-26 Mississippi State Men's Basketball Quotes
Media Session – February 16, 2026

State Head Coach Chris Jans
Q: Talk about if you saw if Josh Hubbard had an extra bounce in his step at shootaround or early in the game. Is there anything that you see where you can tell what type of performance he'll have before a game?
CJ: "I mean if I knew every single time when he was going to play well or not, that would be awesome. It's more of a hunch, if you will, with the experience that I have of being around him for almost three years now as we come down the stretch here."

"I'm certainly happy for him individually because he had such a monster game, and he was a big reason why we won that game. But equally important for me was how he did it. I mean that was by far the most efficient game he's had that I can remember all the way around. He just was really, really good not just with the minutes on the floor, but with his presence in huddles and our shootarounds. I've talked about his leadership ability before, and it continues to grow. He's just getting more and more comfortable with understanding when and how in this day and age, I think that's difficult for players to understand that and to pick your spots to be received well. He's doing a much better job of it, and he was terrific on Saturday."

Q: Watching film, have you seen differences between a Steven Pearl coached Auburn team versus a Bruce Pearl coached Auburn team?
CJ: "Not a whole lot to be honest. They're very similar structure in terms of schemes of what they're trying to do on both ends of the floor. They have an 'offensive coordinator' that is very respected in our industry. So, it's similar that way. They might be running a little more ball screens maybe than the flex that kind of everything's built around with their system than they have."

"I'm not in their meetings or huddles, and I don't watch them every game obviously. But, from what I've seen thus far, that would be something that's a little bit different. And again, it certainly could be because of their personnel. For the most part, it's a similar structure."

Q: What are the keys for the team to be able to build off Saturday's win for momentum going into Wednesday's game with Auburn?
CJ: "It's a good question, that's certainly what we're trying to do. We've been trying to do it. Looking at the tape, the game couldn't have unfolded much better. Certainly, you can get a score and a stop every time down the floor, but that's not realistic. The way we envisioned it, we didn't play great the last five, seven minutes of the game. But. on the road in a rivalry game, if that's the one thing that you've got to gripe about as a coach or as a fan or whoever, I think we all would live with that."

"Now it's just, 'Hey, we've been preaching this and this and that and look at all these possessions that we did this and this and that.' The results, both of the offensive and defensive end on the floor, I thought we had a little bit more to us guarding the ball. We used that segment against Tennessee in the second half where we went on a run to have a chance to get back in the game. We never got to that point, but we played with a little more edge on both ends of the floor. That was the takeaway of 'Hey, we've got to bottle that up. We're capable of that against really good teams.' I thought we played more like that over the course of 40 minutes, especially the first 30 minutes of the game."

"So, it's replicating it. It's the buy in. I've praised them all year long for their resiliency and their practice habits of coming back to work after a tough defeat. We've had some this year. So, I certainly would expect them to be even better after coming off a win like that in terms of their approach, their energy and their motors."

"I congratulated all of them, obviously, but I thought everybody that was there that was on the bus was all in. It didn't matter if they played or didn't play. The guys that didn't play probably celebrated the hardest in the locker room. That's hard, and that's tough. It made me smile, both externally and internally, when I got to see that and be a part of it. Who knows what today or Wednesday will bring, but the hope is that like I said that they just have more bounce in their step and have more confidence. Certainly, winning and playing well gives you confidence individually and collectively, and hopefully that's the result."

Mississippi State University Athletics

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