STARKVILLE — Before Chris Jans could say a word at his first Dawg Talk radio show on Wednesday night at Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux, a woman in a maroon Mississippi State sweatshirt seated at the bar grabbed hold of her cowbell and rang it loudly.
The excitement of the MSU fan base toward its new men’s basketball coach was already apparent.
Jans, hired in March from New Mexico State, has drawn praise from just about everyone associated with Mississippi State, and his early winning ways are proof of that.
The Bulldogs (7-0) can match their best start in five years with a win over Mississippi Valley State (1-7) at 1 p.m. Saturday, and Jans wants to secure as big a crowd as he can for the Magnolia State’s only Division I basketball game that day.
Informed Walk-On’s would open at 8:30 a.m. Saturday for the U.S. men’s soccer World Cup round of 16 game against the Netherlands at 9 a.m., Jans floated a double-dip to those in attendance Wednesday.
“It’ll be a really good segue — get your breakfast in here, maybe a little pregame, come to the Hump at 1 o’clock as we play then,” he said.
Mississippi State has averaged a little over 6,000 fans in each of its first four home games, roughly two-thirds of the capacity of the under-construction Humphrey Coliseum.
That number is likely to grow if the Bulldogs keep winning, particularly once they enter Southeastern Conference play Dec. 28 against Alabama.
So far, Jans acknowledged in a media session earlier Wednesday, Mississippi State has impressed him.
But there’s more to be done.
“We’re just scratching the surface of what we could be and should be, in my opinion,” Jans said.
For one, Jans wasn’t happy with his team’s effort in Monday’s win over Omaha. He said the defense — which allowed just 54 points and still has yet to give up more than 55 in a game this year — could have been better.
A streaky offense is the Bulldogs’ biggest problem so far, but Jans seemed optimistic there, saying “the lid is going to come off the basket” at some point.
Still, he and his staff have tried to look at each upcoming contest from the point of view of the opposing team. How, for example, should Mississippi Valley State attack MSU?
Jans, for his part, wasn’t willing to divulge his scouting report on his team Wednesday.
“Why would I give away what we would do?” he said. “I should know my team the best, but there’s plenty of coaches who are smarter than me, and they’ve already done some things that have given us some problems. I’m sure we’ll see a lot more.”
What has driven Mississippi State’s success — apart from the defense and rebounding Jans said are musts for playing time — is “guys jumping on the train.”
In a little more than eight months on the job, Jans has seen his players understand and appreciate what their coach is trying to build.
“Our culture, our buy-in is probably even better than what I anticipated it being this early in our tenure,” Jans said.
Now, what it comes down to is sustaining that.
Winning is an easy way to do so, but tougher teams down the road will have their say.
If Jans’ Bulldogs pass those tests and build chemistry in the process, there might be a whole lot more cowbells ringing for the MSU coach every Wednesday night.
“Hopefully we can get more of that buy-in,” Jans said. “If we do, then we have a chance to be good later.”
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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