Mississippi State Gets Encouraging Injury Update on Jayden Epps

Mississippi State fans got some good news Monday morning.

Senior guard Jayden Epps avoided any major injuries after getting knocked out of Saturday’s game against South Carolina, according to Mississippi State coach Chris Jans.

“Fortunately, Jaden avoided any major injury. The way it looked initially was scary for him, his family, and all of us because he was clearly in a lot of pain,” Jans said at his Monday morning press conference. “But we had their doctor evaluate him on site, and then our medical staff looked at him again once we got back. He’s avoided anything serious moving forward.”

Jans didn’t say if Epps would miss any of the Bulldogs’ upcoming games, so his status will be something to monitor in the Student-Athlete Availability Reports this week.

There is some bad news for the Bulldogs’ fans, though, and that was how Saturday’s game ended without their second-leading scorer on the floor.

“In real time, that was a big gut punch. He was playing really well. He had 13 points at halftime and him being okay is obviously the most important thing,” Jans said. “But from a basketball standpoint, losing him for the second half was tough because of his role on our team.”

His loss hurt even more with Mississippi State’s leading scorer, Josh Hubbard, scoring just two first half points.

“Josh struggled a bit in the first half, and Jaden had really picked up the slack,” Jans said. “We were within striking distance at halftime, so that was hard. But injuries and foul trouble are part of the game. As coaches and players, you have to adjust and figure it out.”

The Bulldogs’ offense did put up 50 points in the second half (39 in the first half), but as Jans said, they lost the game because of the defensive play.

“We didn’t lose that game because of our offense. Our offense was good enough, even on a night when Josh didn’t play to his standard,” Jans said. “We lost because of our defense. After having two strong defensive performances, especially in first halves, we didn’t have the same bite. That was the most disappointing part of the weekend. We thought we had turned a corner in that area, and clearly we hadn’t.”

On that front, the Bulldogs will have to go back to the drawing board to try and get around that corner. They’ll likely have to do without Epps, which means players like King Grace and Ja’Borri McGhee will have to take on bigger roles.

“We actually went through that scenario without any warning in the second half against South Carolina,” Jans said. “Ja’Borri played more minutes than he normally would, and King Grace had to play some as well. King has been playing more at the three lately anyway, so it’s really just a next-man-up mentality.”

We’ll get our first indication of Epps’ status on Tuesday when Mississippi State releases its initial Student‑Athlete Availability Report for the week.

Regardless of whether he’s cleared, the Bulldogs will head to Tuscaloosa on Wednesday to face No. 17 Alabama. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. on ESPNU

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