Mississippi State coach explains why UK basketball was able to pick apart Bulldogs’ defense

Chris Jans’ Mississippi State team ran into a juggernaut offense Wednesday night inside Rupp Arena.

The Bulldogs allowed a season-high 90 points in a 13-point loss to No. 8-ranked Kentucky, and the impressive offensive numbers for the Wildcats didn’t stop there.

UK made 55.6% of its shots against a team that entered Wednesday’s game with the eighth-best adjusted defensive efficiency in the country, according to KenPom.

The Bulldogs trailed by 18 points at halftime, and despite a brief flurry to begin the second half, were kept at bay the rest of the way by a Kentucky team that secured John Calipari’s 400th win as the Wildcats’ head man.

Postgame, Mississippi State head coach Chris Jans lamented his team’s effort to begin the game, explained what it’s like to face a Kentucky team that’s now scored at least 81 points in 15 of 16 games and discussed other talking points from the road loss.

Here’s everything Jans said after Mississippi State dropped to 12-5 overall and 1-3 in SEC play.

Question about what was said at halftime to ignite a strong start to the second half.

I wish I could, but I can’t. It was fairly tense, we were obviously disappointed with the result of the first half. Just surprised by our lack of urgency, if you will.

These guys are veteran guys, they’ve been there (and) done that. We thought we could lean on them a little bit going into this type of environment, and we just didn’t.

We were on our heels, we were on our toes. We let (Kentucky) dictate everything. Just got behind and couldn’t wait to get to halftime.

Question about allowing 70-plus points in three straight games.

Well, we’re playing better teams. That’s certainly a part of it, you’ve faced some great opponents already in the early part of the SEC season. That’s what happens. ...

You play your non-league and then you get into the league, you get exposed a little bit and now we’ve got to go back to work and figure how we can get better on that end of the floor.

Question about what makes Kentucky’s offense difficult to stop.

I’m sure I sound like a broken record like the other coaches talking about them, but just, it’s so many facilitators and playmakers. They’ve got two guys that come off the bench that could start on a lot of college basketball teams across the country at any level. And what a luxury to have four guys at the guard position that are interchangeable and are all a little bit different, and are really good basketball players in their own right.

Then you see them like each other and share the ball. Then they’ve got other players as well. But they just spread you out. You know, they just spread you out because they shoot the ball so well from 3. They’ve got guys that can get downhill on you. They’ve got the lob threats there behind the defense and they put a lot of pressure on you defensively.

Question about being concerned that Mississippi State is struggling with energy and effort from a team with veteran players.

I’m not. It’s just one game on the road. You see this enough. ... For whatever reason it was tonight. I was surprised, disappointed, but I don’t think it will continue to happen.

Question about Kentucky’s pick-and-roll and perimeter defense.

I’d have to watch the tape to talk about any adjustments that (Kentucky) made in that particular part of the game. But, pick-and-roll is such a big part of basketball now, everybody’s doing it and we certainly try to get into that as well.

We had some good plays tonight, but.

Question about Josh Hubbard’s offensive struggles.

I’m not in (Kentucky’s) team room so I don’t know what their plan was, but from where I stood I thought they were very attentive to Josh, rightfully so. I’m sure he was pretty high up on the scouting report.

It seemed like when he got the ball they were trying to take away his space and when there was any sort of ball screen they were staying as long as they needed to make sure he wasn’t getting a shot off. They just did a good job on him, and for whatever reason he could never get it going and he’s had some great games for us. He’s a guy we’ve leaned on to score and when he doesn’t have a great night we’re not as good of a basketball team.

Question about Corbin native Andrew Taylor, who has missed several recent Mississippi State games due to personal reasons.

Like I’ve been saying, it’s a personal matter.

Question about getting back on track after early SEC losses.

That’s just the way it is. You have to. You don’t have a choice. You dwell on it too long (and) it becomes a problem... On the way home we’re going to start working on our next opponent which is Vanderbilt on Saturday.

It’s only my second go around the league, but it’s unforgiving and you can’t dwell too long. You’ve got to learn and grow and flush it.

This story was originally published January 18, 2024 at 6:59 AM.

Cameron Drummond

Lexington Herald-Leader

859-242-5257

Cameron Drummond works as a sports reporter for the Lexington Herald-Leader with a focus on Kentucky men’s basketball recruiting and the UK men’s basketball team, horse racing, soccer and other sports in Central Kentucky. Drummond is a second-generation American who was born and raised in Texas, before graduating from Indiana University. He is a fluent Spanish speaker who previously worked as a community news reporter in Austin, Texas. Support my work with a digital subscription