Chris Jans on what was atypical for MSU basketball in the loss to Kentucky

This article has been updated to include new information.

STARKVILLE — Mississippi State basketball was within striking distance of slaying one of its demons.

The Bulldogs trailed Kentucky by a point with two minutes remaining Saturday night at Humphrey Coliseum. A win would have snapped an 18-game losing streak for Kentucky dating back to 2009 in the regular season. Five of Starkville’s previous losses were all by seven points or fewer.

Saturday’s result extended that streak to six gut-wrenching, last-minute losses.

No. 13 MSU (14-2, 2-1 SEC) was held scoreless in the final two minutes and fell 95-90 to No. 7 Wildcats (13-3, 2-1).

The 90 points are the most Mississippi State has scored against an SEC opponent in coach Chris Jans’ three seasons, but one aspect of the offense still bothered him afterward.

“I thought early in the game we were a bit uncharacteristic of this team,” he said. “We talk here a lot about how unselfish our team is and how we share the basketball and how we work together offensively, and I was just kind of surprised by some of our shots we took.

“None of them were like, ‘Oh, my God, what is he doing?’ They were just almost like they were surprised that they were open, ‘so I had to shoot it.’ I thought we had more guys take some shots that were like, “We don’t need that.”

Jans didn’t single out players by name who he thought should have made better shot selections, but some can be inferred. KeShawn Murphy attempted two 3-pointers in the first half and is 4-for-19 from 3 this season. Starting center Michael Nwoko also attempted a 3-pointer, making him 1-for-4 on the season. The Bulldogs shot 44.1% from the field in the first half and 18.8% from beyond the arc.

When asked specifically about Josh Hubbard’s shot selection — he was 5-for-16 from the field and 3-of-11 from 3 for 15 points — Jans said he was part of the group that could have made better decisions.

Saturday marked the seventh time this season that MSU’s leading scorer shot below 35% from the field. He is shooting 36.3% from the field and 30.8% from 3 in the last 12 games.

“Shot selection is very fluid throughout the games over the course of seasons, and I have incredible confidence in Josh,” Jans said. “I’m sure the rest of our team does too. He’s proven over the course of a year and a half that he’s a prolific scorer and he shoots shots that sometimes wouldn’t be a good shot for someone else , just because of his stature and his power and his play.”

The Bulldogs launched 40 3-pointers against Kentucky. That’s most of the Jans era. Twelve of them were in favor of a rate of 30%.

Meanwhile, Kentucky finished on 16 of 32 3-pointers. That’s the most MSU has allowed in a game since Liberty drained 19 in 2020.

“We just have to understand that everything matters,” Jans said. “Every possession matters. It’s not, ‘Oh, I’ll get it back.'” A lot of players say, ‘I’ll get it back.’ No, you won’t. You can’t count on that. So I think they just have to understand that there’s going to be a lot of challenging games and opportunities, and you have to play your best.”

Sam Sklar is the Mississippi State beat reporter for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at [email protected] and follow him at X @sklarsam_.