What Chris Jans said caused Mississippi State basketball poor offensive start at Tennessee

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The start to Tuesday’s game was one of Mississippi State basketball’s worst in coach Chris Jans’ three seasons.

The Bulldogs managed just 16 points in the first half at Tennessee, their fewest under Jans. It buried them early in the eventual 68-56 loss to the No. 7 Vols (17-2, 4-2 SEC). The deficit was as big as 20 points in the second half.

MSU (15-4, 3-3) had more turnovers (eight) than made field goals (six) at halftime. Its 56 points are the fewest since last season’s NCAA tournament loss to Michigan State.

“Couldn’t get off to a worse start,” Jans said.

Mississippi State had its worst shooting performance of the season

The Bulldogs shot 33.9% from the field, their worst of the season. It looked like it was going to be much worse at halftime.

MSU made just 6-of-27 field goals (22.2%) in the first half. It started 2-for-16 with 10 of the attempts from 3.

“They were ready to go,” Jans said. “Their physicality off the ball bothered us. They’re very strong-minded guys, physically strong players. And we knew going in that a Rick Barnes coached team in this league this year, the way it’s being officiated, it was going to be hard to pass and catch the ball offensively. They just move you off your spots that make every catch difficult.”

Mississippi State improved to 44.8% in the second half, but it was too little too late.

Josh Hubbard, who led the Bulldogs with 14 points, was 5-of-16 from the floor and 4-of-12 from 3-point range. Riley Kugel, after scoring 21 points to beat Ole Miss last week, had 12 points but on 3-of-12 shooting. Claudell Harris Jr., Cameron Matthews, Michael Nwoko and Shawn Jones Jr. combined to go 3-of-14 for 11 points.

And the Bulldogs, who entered Tuesday with an SEC-best 39.7 paint points per game, finished with just 18 against the Vols.

A Claudell Harris Jr. 3-pointer might’ve changed the game

MSU came out of halftime on a 15-4 run and nearly cut the Tennessee lead to four points with 15 minutes remaining.

“We didn’t really change any…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/chris-jans-said-caused-mississippi-033637759.html

Author : The Clarion Ledger

Publish date : 2025-01-22 03:36:00

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