Head coach Chris Jans talks Florida, job rumors and Shawn Jones

Mississippi State closes out the road schedule Tuesday and it will be the Bulldogs’ toughest challenge of the year. Mississippi State travels to No. 5 and SEC leader in Florida for a 7 p.m. tipoff on the SEC Network.

On Monday, head coach Chris Jans discussed the Gators along with several other topics?

Q: With teams doubling Josh Hubbard so much, what is the key to overcoming that?
Jans: We’ve seen it often this year and even last year. It is something we continue to talk about going into each game and trying to find different ways to give us an advantage out of it. The thing you do the most against it is to make sure our bigs that are the ball-screener understand when it is Josh, more likely than not their man is going to trap the ball. As opposed to a long roll to the basket, it is more of a shorter roll and sit down in the middle of a zone defense ball-wise and try to find that opening.

For a brief time, you’ve got the 4 on 3 and we work on moving guys to different spots on the floor and having a reaction to the pass to the bigs in terms of sliding and staying in space but giving the passer a couple of simple options. They take away the cut and hit the guy, you have a quick decision to make and you have an advantage that way.

The other thing we will, as you guys are watching the games, try to do is flip the ball-screeners’ hips and set up the defense one way and get him to refuse the ball screens and go away from the potential trap guy. Then it is Josh using different techniques at the point of attack, using his speed to attack the big and either draw a foul or go around him with his speed compared to the bigger guys that are trapping. Then obviously, if they are loose with their technique and create a hole at the point of attack if just splitting the ball screen and getting down hill.

So it is something you will see different tactics that we use both with the ball and people off the ball to try to put these guys in position to take advantage of it. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.

Q: When you are watching the film on the defensive end, has it been the same issues of late?
Jans: The last game when we talked in here about our disappointment with the defensive energy or guarding the ball and having better resistance. Certainly that was a big part of it. But our offense really let our defense down. The turnovers and in this league, live-ball turnovers are the possessions that each teams has versus live-ball turnovers is astronomical. It’s just too many players with too much space on the court and advantage situations for the offense is trouble for the defense more often than not. We just had way too many turnovers and ended up 18 and quite a few of them were live ball.

It goes without saying the obvious of not getting a chance to score the ball or rebound the ball if there is a miss and giving that other team more possessions. I thought that was the biggest story of the game than anything. I thought we had some bite to us on certain possessions but it has proved to be tough, especially early. I don’t know if it is every game historically but (Trent) Burns (of Missouri) arguably had the best game he’s had in college. Watching the film, he made some tough shots. He was making 15-foot hook shots and you don’t see that very often from a kid or anyone at that level. He showed remarkable tough and I was impressed, especially watching the tape. Slowing it down, I had more time to think about that and thinking about what we need to do better. Certainly, our defensive numbers are not what we are used to and that needs to change. But in that particular game, I thought our offense led to a lot of that.

Q: Florida seems to do a lot of its scoring with the big men instead of the guards this year. How difficult is that to prepare for?
Jans: They are definitely what you said and they’ve been that way. They’ve done a great job in recruiting and development. They are very simple in terms of their structure, their schemes, and I don’t mean that in a negative way at all. It is what I tell our guys, especially in training camp and leading into the games, it is doing the same things at a high level over and over. Don’t get bored with the drills because the things we are doing on a daily basis are the things you are going to be doing in the games.

Different coaches have different philosophies on keeping it fresh and changing up your drills and wat you do every day so it’s not mondain. The argument of keeping similar drills, similar practice plan, that is what the game is, doing the same things over and over, and doing it at an elite level. That is what Florida does. You know what they are going to do heading into the game. Everybody does.

It is your nob to try to stop it because we know we are doing. We know what we are going to do and they are not tricky that way. They run a lot of ball screens and they obviously are elite at rebounding the basketball. Their guards really get it going. They can get up with anyone in the country.

Q: Shawn Jones has been a leader for your team for awhile now. What have you seen from him down the stretch here?
Jans: All he’s known is winning since he’s been here. He is our first four-year player and that is what he’s known – winning and playing in March Madness. I know this isn’t what he envisioned in his last year, especially with what i just talked about. He has handled what we are going through remarkably well. I told him the other day how proud I was of him to handle the adversity we are going through, especially knowing you are not getting another shot in college basketball. At least not right now because who even knows with the era we are living in and if they will make another rule change to allow kids to play a fifth season or not. He is not happy like none of us are. But he’s handled it really well.

Q: How do you handle coaching rumors this time of year and how happy are you at Mississippi State?
Jans: Like you said, with the rumors and people putting lists out, it is out of my control. It is not something I spend any time on. I can’t control what people write. This time of the year, and I’ve been in this business for 33 years now, everyone in the country is doing that. Who’s on the hot seat? Who’s doing okay? What coaches are next for job openings that are available or will come available? It is a right that happens every spring.

Obviously, when you are a young coach and your name got on one of those lists, it was kind of cool. Yeah, they are talking about me. That is so far in the rearview mirror for me. I imagine most coaches that are coaching at this level don’t any mind to it.

I love being the coach at Mississippi State. They continue to make my job better. Zac Selmon has continued to resource our program at the level is needed and required. Certainly we’ve got basketball yet to be played and we are working our tails off to prepare for this game. I anticipate having a competitive practice today. But all of that mess, I don’t really handle it. I’ve never addressed it with our team. There’s no reason to talk about that with our team.

I have in the past and said hey, if you don’t hear from me then it’s garbage. Don’t get caught up in worrying about that or reading that kind of stuff because it is out of our control. I am excited to be the coach here just like I was in my first year. I don’t take this lightly. It means the world to me to be the head coach at Mississippi State. Obviously, I know everyone is disappointed in the results and rightfully so. I promise you nobody is more disappointed than myself. I can’t speak for them but I imagine our staff echoes that sentiment. We are going to continue to fight, scratch and claw and try to do our best for the remainder of the season.