STARKVILLE — With defense as its calling card, Mississippi State preferred to slow the game down on offense in Chris Jans’ first two seasons as the Bulldogs’ head coach.
But now, without a post presence like Tolu Smith and led by a volume scorer at guard in Josh Hubbard, MSU is becoming more comfortable playing faster, and it showed in the Bulldogs’ season-opening win Monday over West Georgia.
“We’ve been practicing that way for quite some time,” Jans said Wednesday. “I’ve always argued that tempo is misleading, (in terms of) possessions per game, because if you’re doing a good job defensively and the other team is having a hard time getting a shot off, the game will be a lower-possession game. So I don’t really care what our adjusted tempo is. But if you want to break it down to really see who’s playing fast offensively, look at time of possession.”
Regardless of how telling possessions per game is as a statistic, MSU did rank 312th out of 363 Division I teams with 67.2 of them in 2022-23, Jans’ first season in Starkville. Last year, thanks largely to the emergence of Hubbard as a shooter, the Bulldogs were in the middle of the pack at 177th with 70.6 possessions per game.
MSU (1-0) had 70 possessions against West Georgia, but did show more willingness to push the ball even in non-transition situations.
“I want our team to play fast and get great shots and put pressure on the defense and score early when we can,” Jans said. “But on the other end, if we don’t turn them over, I want them to have to go all the way to the shot clock (buzzer) and work for open looks. The difference in length of possessions offensively and defensively is way more important to me than when people talk about what our pace is.”
The Bulldogs played nine minutes of Monday’s game without a true center on the floor, starting with KeShawn Murphy instead of transfers Michael Nwoko and Jeremy Foumena or sophomore Gai Chol. Murphy had seven rebounds, but the three centers combined for just two in 31 minutes.
For a team used to winning on the boards — MSU was third in the Southeastern Conference last year in rebounding margin — the Bulldogs will need to get that issue squared away before they face bigger, tougher opponents, starting with Friday night’s home game against Georgia State.
“Obviously, rebounding is a big deal for this particular team. That’s already been discovered,” Jans said. “They’re a work in progress, like we’ve been saying all year long, but they’re going to get there. What does ‘there’ mean? That’s different for everybody. Most importantly, it’s what it means to me and our staff rather than a fan or anyone else.”
Scouting Georgia State
The Panthers (1-0) opened the season with a 71-66 home win over Ball State behind three players — Cesare Edwards, Zarique Nutter and Nick McMullen — with double-doubles. Edwards, their 6-foot, 10-inch center, led the way with 17 points and 11 rebounds as Georgia State won despite going just 2-for-11 from 3-point range.
Jonas Hayes is in his third year as the Panthers’ head coach and went 14-17 last season, finishing in the middle of the pack in the Sun Belt Conference.
“The things they do best right now are areas of concern for us,” Jans said. “I’m sure they’re watching the tape thinking the same thing. ‘Hey, we can exploit them on the glass. Our physicality, our size should give them problems.’ Hopefully it’ll be good for us in that we’re playing a team like that. We can show our guys (that) if we are not better in these areas that we were weak at in the first game, it’ll be a long night for the home team.”
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