Head coach Chris Jans talks Kansas State, Achor Achor and 2026 signees

After posting a win over Southeastern Louisiana last weekend, Mississippi State will venture outside of Humphrey Coliseum later this week. The Bulldogs (2-1) begin play in the Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City, Mo., on Thursday with an 8:30 p.m. tipoff against Kansas State (4-0).

Depending on the outcome of Thursday’s game, Mississippi State will face either Nebraska or New Mexico on Friday evening. On Tuesday, head coach Chris Jans met with the media to discuss Kansas State along with other topics:

Q: Your thoughts on 2026 official signees Jalyn Collingwood, Willie Burnett and Tristan Reed?
Jans: We’re thrilled about the recent additions that we made to the program. Those that have been following us and know me, we’re not ‘oh my God’ over the moon about recruits. We love them. We offered them a scholarship because we believed in them. But we’ll see when they get here how they acclimate to this level and the demands placed upon them and the expectations that we have every single day and they all know that. It’s been discussed prior to them making a commitment.

But I want to be clear. We’re very thrilled about what we added for next year. We think we’re in a great position that way. The obvious is the quality of play, but equally important the type of young men that we’re adding to our program. They have work ethics, they are about the right stuff. I think they’re going to fit in very well to our culture and most importantly, I think they are going to be improved. We keep getting better that way. Hopefully that’s something we continue with our high school recruiting that continues to get better.

Q: What catches your eye with Kansas State?
Jans: Up until last night’s game they were No. 1 in the country in 3 point shooting. It literally felt like every time they shot the 3 it went in no matter who it was on their team. They slowed down a little bit last night in a win. But they are very offensive-minded in terms of scoring the ball. They scored 80-something last night and had scored in the high 90s in every single game that they played thus far.

So they have a lot of fire power and it is not just one guy. Certainly people will talk about (P.J.) Haggerty a lot and deservingly so. But they got five guys that are averaging double figures and one of them comes off the bench. So they really spread you out, defensively. They put a lot of pressure on you, defensively. They push the ball, they play fast. In the half court, they get the ball in Haggerty’s hands a lot. We are familiar with him, obviously, with playing Memphis last year. He is the straw that stirs the drink but at the same time, he has a lot of running mates that can put the ball in the hole.

Then defensively, they are sound. They are very sound. Some of their numbers may not be as gaudy but they also play high-possession games so some of it can get skewed that way. But their guards guard and they’ve got connectivity to their team. They’ve got really good size around the basket, especially coming off the bench. It seems like those guys that are not leading scorers have really bought into their role and identification and doing what they do best to help their particular team.

Q: You said you wanted to see your team respond against Southeastern Louisiana. Have you seen that continue this week?
Jans: I did see a lot in terms of response. Unfortunately, we practiced better and harder than we did in parts of our last game, which is certainly not what you want. I don’t think anyone wants that. The players don’t want that, fans don’t want that, coaches don’t want that. Opponents want that and we got to get them to fix it. I want us to play like we practice.

I’ve said this before but this is the best practice team I’ve had thus far since I’ve been there. That’s usually a good sign eventually. But for whatever reason, as physical as they are, as competitive as they are most of the time in practice, it’s not what you would think makes sense. Now we are play together and go against someone else in a different colored jersey. You would think they would be excited to do that and we’ve got to figure out how to get them to transfer practice into the games a little bit better.

But we did see a good response in practice and we had some good moments in the game. Certainly the last four or five minutes were not. Definitely spoiled some of the good things we saw.

Q: How do you feel about the state of the team right now after three games?
Jans: We are a work in progress like I would expect us to be. Certainly there are a lot of teams out there that have a lot of newness playing their best, at least for November. We are not playing our best. Like I just mentioned, there are times where I feel like we are better in practice from a competitive standpoint and execution standpoint than we are in games. There are distractions in games that you have to avoid. That’s why you do it sometimes.

But we are definitely a work in progress. I keep trying to get them to understand we have to really old-school mantra of getting better and soaking up everything we can in every film session, in every practice session, every walk through so we can, as a group, get the growth that is required all year long but especially early. We are still trying to find what our identity is going to be.

I’ve said this before. I know what I want them to be and it is my job to get them to grab ahold of it and buy into it. We’re just not there yet. We are going to keep charging forward, working our tail off and they are going to keep doing the same. Hopefully, in short order that identity will be formed and everyone will see. But until then, as you can see we have a lot of struggles in games, some longer than others. It needs to be figured out sooner than later.

Q: Similar to the Iowa State game, Thursday is a neutral-court game but close to where Kansas State plays. How do you think your team will react to that setting again?
Jans: Well, we’ve already done it once so it won’t be as freezing and cold weather. But it will be bigger. That was an intimate environment at The Pentagon and a really cool, really neat place to play and it was very small and intimate. But this will be like an NBA arena and large. People won’t be as quite on top of you but there will be a lot more people in the gym.

Like you mentioned, there will definitely be more purple than maroon and close to their campus. But like always, looking forward to seeing how we compete in that environment and if we stick together in that environment. But it will definitely feel like a road game, for sure.

Q: How has Jamarion Davis-Fleming been since getting injured the other night?
Jans: I am not at liberty to say yet. I haven’t seen our team yet today. He was definitely in pain yesterday. But again, it is still not a structural situation but time will tell. Hopefully, he will continue to rehab and hit it to where he is game ready. But I haven’t seen the team yet today so I don’t know where he’s at.

Q: With a signing class, do you approach each one with a set number of signees you want or how does it play out?
Jans: That’s a great question and it varies. A lot of it has to do with where your team is at, what you think you’re going to need. But like you said, it’s more difficult now with the portal looming, not knowing who is going to be in the portal, not knowing who is going to be retained on your own team.

So it’s a lot of guessing that goes on, unfortunately. But for me, we recruit a bunch of guys like everybody does. Then in the end if we think they’re a priority recruit and we have a legitimate chance to get them, and then the negotiations are where we think it should be. Then we’re not in position to be turning down players that we think that can move the needle.

So we don’t necessarily have a number, especially in this day and age. In the past I think you really did because it was more structured. You knew going into a certain fall or spring you were going to have to sign a bigger class. In the past everyone said good players signed in the fall. That was when you signed most of your players. It’s changed now, drastically. But for us, if we could have signed two, three, four, five. We didn’t have a set number. We had guys that we believed in, guys that we wanted, guys we identified, got to know. Obviously, it’s still not over yet with the signing period.

Q: With Achor Achor facing his former team this week, what have you thought about his play so far this season?
Jans: He is one like I mentioned earlier about our team, hasn’t performed as well in the games as he has in practice. He’s been around a little bit so I fully expect him to get the practice into the game a little bit better. He has proven he can shoot the basketball. I think he is 1 for 6 from the 3 and he is much better than that in practice. A bright spot for him and for us is he’s been one of if not the most consistent rebounder not just in the games but in the practices.

He’s proven to be a responsible rebounder and a guy that can track the ball down and compete on the backboards, especially on the defensive end. Then on the offensive end, he does some of that, too. For the most part, he makes really good decisions if he thinks he can get it back on the glass, playing in traffic or kicking it out for an open 3 that has become very popular in college basketball.

So he kind of mirrors our team. He is a work in progress, as well. Seen him do some things but definitely got some room where he could help us more.

Q: After facing him last year, have you noticed anything different in P.J. Haggerty’s game this year?
Jans: Not really. He had the ball a lot in his hands last year, too. Just prolific in the open court. He’s got such great size. He is put in lots of different ball screens and lots of different angles. The other guys on the team I am sure love playing with him because he can go out and get his own but he likes to set other people up, as well. He is just a lot to handle. I am sure most coaches that are preparing for him and talking about him prior to games are saying similar things.

He is very good at drawing fouls. He’s got a knack for it. He’s unbelievable at it, to be honest, just reading and seeing where the defenders are, playing off two and giving a shot fake or head fake and defense biting on it. He has knack for putting his body in harm’s way and taking advantage of making the officials call it. It is something we are going to work on it but I am sure most people do. But when you get in the game, you get frustrated because he continues to draw fouls on you. But he is a year older, year stronger, a year mor experienced. But he is still similar in that way.