WATCH: Coach Jans Postgame Presser - No. 17 Alabama

2025-26 Mississippi State Men's Basketball Postgame Quotes
Mississippi State at No. 17 Alabama – February 25, 2026

State Head Coach Chris Jans
Q: When you're playing a team as deep as Alabama, could you ever have imagined a good shooting team would shoot it at the rate Alabama did to start the game tonight?
CJ: "Hats off to them and how they played especially the first 20 minutes of the game. They got off to a terrific start. When you're on the road, and you're playing a team that has weapons that Alabama has and plays the style that Alabama does, that's certainly not what you envision. You're trying to win the game, which obviously we were."

"Our plan of trying to limit possessions and switching up our defenses, etcetera, got thrown out the window fairly quickly because of the early lead they had built. It just wasn't conducive to us trying to get back in the game that way. It was definitely a buzz saw, and I don't know if I've ever been involved in a game where the other team had 16 three's and only 4 two's at the end of 20 minutes. Obviously, Amari Allen really got off to a terrific start. I think he had 18 [points] and didn't miss a field goal the whole first half."

Q: You bring up Amari Allen. Some of these three's were 25, 27-foot shots. When you have a team that can stretch range like that, how does it really put you in a conflict defensively?
CJ: "Especially when you're playing them here, they obviously seemed to have a little more juice in the building. You bring up a great point is they have so many guys on the court that can shoot the three. More often than not, all five [players] have the green light to shoot the three, and some of them can shoot it very, very deep. So, it really puts your defense in precarious positions. You've got to pick your poison at times and almost get in a certain gap against a guy that maybe doesn't shoot it quite as well."

"To start the game, London Jemison hit a couple three's early. We talked about Amari Allen, and we're very aware of [Aden] Holloway and [Latrell] Wrightsell. They've been there in Alabama for a while, but when they're shooting the three like that, then it becomes contagious for their whole team. It puts you in a tough spot. We tried to switch up our defenses a couple times. As soon as we went to some different looks in our zone and even our ball screen coverage, the next possession they scored on it. So, it didn't give us much confidence to try and switch up our defenses going forward."

Q: In terms of what Alabama did defensively tonight, did you get the kind of shots you wanted to get offensively and they just didn't fall, or was Alabama making it tough for you?
CJ: "Typical for a lot of our games, they're trying to limit Josh's [Hubbard] quality looks and just getting the ball out of his hands as much as possible. Josh continues to get better and better with that. I thought we had some looks in the first half that didn't go down. That could possibly slow their attack against Josh and all the attention that it received, but it didn't work that way."

"We had some bad possessions where guys were going into DHOs [dribble handoffs] and just handing the ball off to one another. They were switching everything, and we just weren't very well spaced at times. We talked a lot about that, we showed them the film on that, and I thought they did a much better job in the second half of understanding what we needed to do offensively to get us more baskets."

Q: It looked like your guys played with a lot of pride in the second half. What was clicking in the second half for your team tonight?
CJ: "Obviously, it's a different tenor of the game then. I mean they didn't shoot the ball as well. Sure, I'm glad that we continued to play hard. I would expect them to continue to play hard, but we dug such a deep hole that it was a big lead to try and overcome."

"When they got the technical foul, and we had the two free throws and had the ball, and we didn't come up with anything. It could have cut the lead to 15 and could have made them think about it a little bit because they were shooting some questionable shots at that point. Certainly, when you have a big lead like that, it can sometimes happen, but the expectation was for our guys to continue to play hard throughout the game."

Q: King Grace was playing well for you in the second half but got a little banged up. Is there any word on maybe what happened to him?
CJ: "I don't think it's serious, but it's his groin. He actually tweaked it a while ago. He's actually had some issues with his groin since he's arrived. Anyone that's an athlete knows when you have a groin or hamstring, they can be tough things to get back out on the court. Hopefully, once he gets evaluated when we get back home, the news will be better than that."

Mississippi State University Athletics

WATCH: Coach Jans Postgame Presser - No. 17 Alabama

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