Chris Jans believes that the basketball program in Starkville is very similar to the fanbase in that both have a blue collar mentality. This was said at the weekly press conference on Monday.

Jans has Mississippi State basketball sitting at 12-5 through his first 17 games as head coach. The Bulldogs coach stated that the his team’s style of play mirrors that of the community.

“I think every new coach at some point when they arrived pleads with the fans to give them a chance. Now that I’ve been here for months, I truly feel that our style of play mirrors the community in terms of blue collar mentality. We roll our sleeves up and get after it every day and I think the people that I’ve met and gotten to know share that same approach for the most part.”

Fans will have to wait until Tuesday to see if that mentality will be enough to beat Tennessee. The Volunteers suffered their first SEC loss against Kentucky on Saturday. The first matchup between Mississippi State and Tennessee ended with an 87-53 Bulldogs loss.

The fans will need show up in great numbers to help their team earn the win over Tennessee. The game will tipoff at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2.

(H/T 247Sports)