State responds against Georgia, seek to carry momentum to the road

Mississippi State head coach Chris Jans fully understands the coach speak and cliche’ of taking one game at a time. But earlier this week, Jans and the program broke that mold somewhat.

Yes, the preparation and practice sessions on Monday and Tuesday were focused on Georgia, who State handled 75-62 on Wednesday night to snap a two-game losing streak. But the coaches and players also knew what was ahead this weekend at Missouri.

So far this year, the Bulldogs have failed to win a road game and State is 0-5 in SEC road games. With Missouri being winless in the SEC, the Bulldogs have a great opportunity to grab that elusive first road win of the season with Saturday’s 7:30 p.m. tipoff at Missouri.

“Obviously nobody looks ahead,” Jans said. “But on Monday we talked and we were going to focus solely on Georgia. But let’s be real about it, you got to win two. We got to go 2-0 this week and that’s just the way it is. So you got to be really good. Everything we did Monday and Tuesday not only impacts Wednesday but it impacts Saturday, as well.

“So we were up front and we normally don’t do that. I don’t know a lot of programs that do that. But we try to tell the truth and make sure they understand what we are about to embark on.”

Of course, to go 2-0 this week, Mississippi State (15-8 overall, 4-6 in the SEC) had to beat Georgia first, and they did take care of that business. Last week was not the most pleasant week, either, as State dropped a close battle at Ole Miss before being blown out of the gym at Alabama last Saturday.

Those losses led to some real conversations between the coaches and players, and between the players themselves. And it turned out to be a productive meeting, according to Jans.

“For the first time in a long time, we had players talking,” recalled Jans. “And the things that were said were serious and I love how they did it. I loved how they talked about issues and everyone handled it really well. Our practices were one of the better practices we’ve had in a long time on Monday. Then on Tuesday it was a similar mindset and you could feel that they were ready to play.”

On Wednesday against Georgia, State once again displayed a solid defensive effort aid the victory, a defensive effort that has been lacking on the road so far this year. The Bulldogs also controlled the glass and outrebounded Georgia by 10.

“That is where we try to make our identity,” said Cameron Matthews. “Just rebounding, playing as a hard-nosed team and really good defense. It’s just exciting to get back on that side of things.”

Wednesday also marked State’s first game without DJ Jeffries, who injured his knee at Alabama and is out for a couple of weeks. In Jeffries’ absence, sophomore Shawn Jones got his second start of the season.

Jones did misfire on his first five 3 point attempts against Georgia. But he was also very active on both ends of the floor and maintained a high level of energy throughout. He also came up with a huge shot after Georgia had rallied to cut State’s lead to 56-53. With 5:47 remaining, Jones made his first 3 pointer of the game to stretch the lead back to six points and Georgia never got any closer than that the rest of the way.

“If you look at Shawn Jones’ boxscore and say he didn’t shoot well or play great,” mentioned Jans. “But I thought he played with great mental. I thought he had a great approach and he was flying around, defending, running the court.

“Then for him to take that shot, I talked about it with the guys in the locker room. He just has confidence running through his veins because that was a big shot in a big moment. He hadn’t made one and had shot a few. I was proud of him. That was a big shot for him personally.”

And afterwards, Matthews remarked that the team needs Jones to show that on a consistent basis.

“Shawn Jones, we got a lot of confidence in him,” Matthews added. “He is a dog, really good player. Really high effort and really high compete level. We already knew what we were going to get from Shawn. We just have to get him to go out there and do it every night at a high level.”

Wednesday’s victory was also aided by the return of KeShawn Murphy, who scored 10 points in 15 minutes of action and was one of four Bulldogs in double figures. Murphy had briefly stepped away from the program last month and had not played in a game since January 6th.

“We don’t care how we win,” Jans said. “Certainly if you got a couple of guys getting 20-plus (points) is great. But if we had our druthers we would have more guys in double figures like that.”

All in all, it was a good response for the Bulldogs on Wednesday, and a much-needed “response” after getting embarrassed at Alabama. Now State finds themselves with eight games left on the SEC schedule and every game holds importance concerning the Bulldogs’ NCAA Tournament resume.

Along with the trip to Missouri on Saturday, the Bulldogs also have road games remaining at LSU, Auburn and Texas A&M. On the other side, State has home games left against Arkansas, Ole Miss, Kentucky and South Carolina.

While the second half of the SEC slate is not near as demanding as the first half, it doesn’t qualify as an easy stretch either. But the goal is to build on Wednesday’s win over Georgia and to keep responding.

“I was really happy to see the response,” noted Jans. “We had a bad taste in our mouth and were very disappointed about our effort and the final score (at Alabama). I felt like Monday and Tuesday were big days for us in how we were going to respond. I didn’t know.

“But after our talks and practice, they responded about as well as I could’ve asked them to respond. Then to win a game at home and play the way we did, it’s got to give them more confidence going forward.”