Chris Jans shares first thoughts on Georgia

Mississippi State secured their first SEC win of the season Saturday when they defeated rival Ole Miss at home 64-54. The Bulldogs now look ahead to their next matchup with the other Bulldogs of the conference, as they take on Georgia in Athens on Wednesday. Ahead of their game, Mississippi State head coach Chris Jans previewed their upcoming matchup with UGA.

“Yeah they’re off to a great start, coach White and his staff have done a tremendous job playing above national expectations,” Jans said. “I’m sure not about their own expectations, but they’re just so solid in every way.”

Georgia is led by head coach Mike White, who is in his first year at the helm for the Bulldogs following a seven-year tenure with rival Florida. Georgia’s latest game was a loss to White’s former team, but it was only their first conference loss of the season, as he’s led them to an 11-4 record so far on the year.

“If you look at them from a coach’s lens in terms of efficiency across the board, there’s just not a lot of areas that they don’t play well. Very similar efficiency-wise offense and defense and another good offensive rebounding team,” Jans explained. “And coaches talk about this a lot, they know who they are, they know where the ball needs to go and who’s hands the ball needs to be in most of the time.”

The ball most of the time for the Bulldogs is in the hands of their elite backcourt, led by the guard duo of Terry Roberts and Kario Oquendo. Roberts’ 15.7 points per game is tied for sixth most per game in the SEC, as he also leads Georgia in assists and steals.

But Mississippi State won’t be able to give him their full attention, as Oquendo has proven himself as a reliable scoring option as well averaging 14.1 points per game. He has a tough shooting night in their last game against Florida, scoring just 9 points on 30% shooting, but had a season-high 22 points just three games ago and back-to-back 17-point scoring outings before their loss to the Gators.

“And like you mentioned, out front with Terry and Kario, I hope I didn’t butcher his name, are very good players. Both having excellent years and they can score the ball in a variety of ways,” Jans said.

Mississippi State has a tall task ahead of them in the backcourt on Wednesday, as they take on Georgia at 6:30 p.m. in a matchup airing on SEC Network.