Here are thoughts and commentary following Mississippi State’s upset win over No. 8 Auburn
STARKVILLE — Chris Jans, the men’s basketball coach at Mississippi State, has been an inspiration to many. His unapologetic approach to leading his team and his defensive-first identity, as well as his willingness to ride with “his guys” and give Dashawn Davis every chance to establish himself as a starter, have been admirable. However, Jans ultimately had no choice but to make the switch and start true freshman Josh Hubbard, who led Mississippi State with 17 points in its upset victory over No. 8 Auburn on Saturday in Starkville.
He won’t apologize for winning, either. Regardless of how many years it may have set scoring and offensive systems in collegiate basketball.
To be really honest with you, Jans stated, “I have no idea what outside is saying and I don’t care.” “All that matters to me is winning, and I don’t care what strategy we have to employ to do it. It doesn’t matter if the game takes place in the 60s or 90s. All you need to do is figure out how to win games.
In this results-driven industry, ultimately, winning is all that counts. only finishing the task. If Mississippi State (14-6, 3-4 SEC) continues to play as it did on Saturday against Auburn, it can win a lot of games. Has played this way since Jans came to Starkville and won a number of games.
It seemed like a classic Mississippi State game on Saturday. unkempt. never give up on the glass. tenacious when defending. Hardness all through the night.
The Bulldogs made only 24% of their three-point attempts and 50% of their free-throw attempts. They held Auburn to its lowest shooting night of the season—34%—so it didn’t matter.
Tolu Smith scored just nine points for the Bulldogs, which was his lowest total of the year. It made little difference since Mississippi State had a 45-30 edge on the defensive glass and a 14-6 edge on the offensive glass.
Mississippi State’s 64 points was third-lowest of the season for a game. As long as that figure is higher than his opponent’s, it doesn’t matter to Jans or this fan following.
“I believed that we performed as we felt was necessary to win games,” Jans remarked. “I understand that not everyone finds it to be aesthetically pleasant. However, you have to slow down a little bit while playing conference games against strong teams, and that was a classic rockfight.
It is usually these kinds of upsets that cause Mississippi State’s home supporters to go into a frenzy, but they never had that offensive explosion, that 10-0 run.
The way the Bulldogs played it, they won.
In the first half, Auburn only had a one-point lead (8–6). In the second half, it took a 46-45 lead at one point. There were five more ties in the game in between.
Mississippi State had a solution for every situation. Hubbard put the Bulldogs ahead 23–21 at the break, and he added three more points to put State ahead 28–25 and 36–33.
With seven minutes remaining, Tolu Smith then dunks to give State the lead for good. The Bulldogs then mounted a comeback and defensive drive to pull off an upset.
Senior forward D.J. Jeffries stated, “Defense and toughness are our identity and those are things we are always going to rely on.” “We can always rely on those to help us win the game every single night.”
It hasn’t always materialized for Mississippi State every evening. Almost never this season without visiting The Hump.
The Bulldogs have sufficiently demonstrated their potential at their home stadium for us to know what this club is capable of. Its defense needs to find a way to travel because it has two road games coming up—one against Ole Miss on Tuesday and the other against Alabama this weekend.
Shakeel Moore remarked, “Just being more than others, more grimey.” “We were more soiled on defense after Coach (Jans) showed us a few of our game footage from the previous season. Out-play and out-rebound teams is what we need to accomplish.
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