Everything Mississippi State coach Chris Jans said at SEC Media Day

Mississippi State men's basketball coach Chris Jans made his appearance at SEC Tipoff '26 at the SEC home office in Birmingham, Ala.

The fourth-year coach talked about the current state of the Mississippi State teams, as well as his thoughts on the transfer portal and his second-ever hole-in-one during the offseason.

ICYMI: Mississippi State still dealing with injuries, releases official depth chart vs. Florida

Here's everything Jans said on Wednesday:

On a hole-in-one during the offseason...

The hole-in-one was the highlight of the offseason for sure. It was my second one in my life. It's been about 15 years since I had my first one and the great thing about holes-in-one, if you've been around it or experienced it, when you have them early in the round, it was hole number three. You get to celebrate it, you know, all day long and fortunately for me it was a hot day and I think there was one other group on the golf course so it didn't cost me much at the end of the day that way.

Opening statement...

As always excited to be here, fourth year standing up on the podium. I was talking to Garth Glissman waiting to be introduced and I remember when I first got here, my wife and kids and anyone else real close to me was glued into the SEC network to watch this presentation or this talk, if you will, and now I guarantee you that they're not watching today. They're doing their thing. It's old hat for them now. We're grizzled veterans of this league, if you will, other than my mother. She was texting me all morning asking me if what time I was going on, if it was Central Time, Eastern Time, etc. But in terms of our team, like all the other coaches are probably talking about, we got a lot of new, we've got 15 players. It's the smallest roster I've ever had as a head coach at any level. It's new territory for me that way. I've been accustomed to having a lot of bodies in practice, so it's caused us to change how we organize our practices and then certainly run our practices. We have four guys that were in uniform last year, one starter and two in the rotation, so that means we have 11 new players. Of those 11, four of them are high school players and six of them were transfers and then we have an international player as well. So still trying to find our identity, to be honest with you. I remember a few weeks ago struggling internally about who our team is going to be, how we're practicing, etc. And I got to believe now looking back, talking to other coaches, that it's a similar feeling that's going on across the country is you're just not quite there yet. Your personality hasn't quite formed yet as a basketball team because you just haven't had the necessary time and reps and adversity that you're comfortable with having so many other players back from years past. So we're excited about the season.

On the timing of the transfer portal window opening...

I adhere to why complain, nobody pays attention to it anyway, but it's certainly been a hot topic for years now since the portal has become a part of our landscape and for me personally, I've been championing the weekend after the Sweet 16. I think that's the perfect time for it to open where there's only four teams that are left playing and you know boo-hoo to those four. They're playing in a final four and they've got to be able to you know get in the portal a little bit and still prepare for their team, but I'm sure they would all take the inconvenience. I believe when it started two years ago before the NCAA tournament that that was a travesty in my opinion and I get there's a lot of talking points that comes with it, but I can't imagine a better sweet spot than the Monday after the Sweet 16 weekend where even for the coaches and the staffs and their families, when you lose the last game of the year, which all but one of us do that are in the NCAA tournament, you don't get to take a breath at all. You don't even get to internalize what happened. It's very emotional because you don't have a choice. You better jump in the portal, both feet, both hands, every part of your body to be able to do what you got to do because it's very time sensitive. So I think it gives the players time to decide if they want to go in or not and it gives the coaches time to re-recruit, if you will, some of the players that are on the fence. And I know there'll be people that will say, well, we need to know, right? And it's going to give time for coaches to get behind the scenes and do what they do. But let's be honest. I mean, that's going on anyway. I tell our coaches all the time that everybody's in the portal. That's got to be your mentality, regardless if they're actually physically paperwork wise in the portal. So again, that's my opinion on that.

On Josh Hubbard's return and next steps for him...

There may be some uncertainty on a national level. I didn't have any uncertainty with it just because I'm with him daily. I've got to know his family very well and what kind of people they are and what they stand for. But I understand the narrative. When anyone that good, that young, there's going to be talk about it. And again, what I said earlier, I look at returners, at attorneys, as everybody's in the portal. And I think it speaks volumes to, you know, who he is and what kind of person he is and how strongly he believes in our program and our community and in our university. But I never get tired of talking about Josh. I had someone come into practice the other day that has been around a little bit yearly. And he asked me, is he really as good a kid as he seems to be, as he comes off to be? And I go, he's better. And a lot of coaches talk about, you know, kids being better people than they are players. And it's a cliche, but I mean, that's Josh. That's his identity. That's who he is. And that's a heck of a statement because he's a hell of a player. And to say that he's a better person just speaks kudos to the quality human being that he is.

On Hubbard helping new players...

He's been crucial. You know, he took a leadership role last year as a sophomore, along with Cameron Matthews. He was definitely the little brother of the duo. He did it a little more silently than Cam did it. But he's got all the qualities that you would want if you were looking at it from a coach's perspective in terms of his ability. So he's got respect that way. You know, he's as hard a worker as we have in the program, which gives him a little more confidence and coach more confidence in allowing him to say things to his teammates. You know, I really don't like the kids who start trying to take over a leadership role and they're not doing the right thing every day. I mean, that's counterintuitive. And I just get frustrated when I see that happening. And with Josh, that's no worries at all. And he's stepped up a level in terms of his using his voice. You know, that was the thing I said last year is Josh needs to find his voice in our program internally. And he's done that and more. He doesn't just lead by example now. He uses his voice and he's working harder than he ever has. He's practicing more consistently, especially on the defensive end than he ever has. And I think once we start playing these games and people watch him play, you'll see that he's gotten even better. You know, he's continuing to strive to be a two way player and improve his game all around. And we're seeing it develop in front of us every day.

On the Bulldogs' front court...

Well, people talked about the dentist that obviously I didn't coin myself. I had nothing to do with that name. But, you know, we were known for, you know, being a tough nose team and, you know, blue collar. And last year, I wouldn't have described our team like that, you know, our analytics flipped a little bit. We had a very good offensive year historically for Mississippi State and for my teams. We were ranked in the top 25 efficiency wise. We scored the second most points in the history of Mississippi State and had a lot of other highs historically for our program. But defensively, we took a couple steps back and I knew we would. I just didn't want to take two steps back and we took, you know, more than we wanted. So we had that in mind when we jumped in the portal this year and tried to get, like you said, some length and some more defensive minded guys. And, you know, we'll see how it plays out. But that's definitely something that we're going to try to get back to.