Bulldogs ready to be back in front of the home crowd
Chris Jans is ready to get back and see the Mississippi State fans.
The Bulldogs will give their head coach another opportunity to do so when they host the Missouri Tigers Saturday at 5 p.m.
Jans has grown to enjoy the support from the home crowd at Humphrey Coliseum.
The last time MSU was home it used the energy of the 8,643 fans in attendance to upset then-No. 11 TCU 81-74 in overtime.
“I was so impressed with the number of people (against TCU), especially the students,” Jans said. “We've got a two-game winning streak and these guys are playing really hard, really well and I think people will come out and support them.”
The Bulldogs will also be home Wednesday night against LSU.
In Southeastern Conference play, MSU had 9,803 people attend the Alabama game at Humphrey Coliseum, 9,295 at home for Ole Miss, 8,797 at home for Tennessee and 8,660 at home for Florida.
Saturday night's game against a hot Missouri team could bring out the crowd once again.
The Tigers have records of 17-5 overall and 5-4 in the SEC after defeating LSU 8777 at home Wednesday night.
Missouri has the potential to score a large amount of points and averages 83.3 points per game.
“We play a very talented Missouri team that has all the numbers,” Jans said.
The top two Tiger point producers are Kobe Brown at 16.5 points per game and D'Moi Hodge at 14.3 points per outing.
The Bulldogs continue to be led by the 14.5 points and 8.2 rebounds per contest of
Tolu Smith. In his last game inside Humphrey Coliseum, Smith had an impressive double-double of 27 points and 13 rebounds against TCU.
Smith is seven points shy of becoming the sixth MSU player since 2017-18 and 42nd player overall to reach the 1000-point mark.
There are three other Bulldogs averaging eight points or better with Shakeel Moore at 8.9, D.J. Jeffries at 8.89 and Dashawn Davis at 8.6.
Smith is expected to be joined in the starting lineup by forwards Jeffries and Cameron Matthews and guards Moore and Davis.