STARKVILLE, Miss. — The Mississippi State Bulldogs had a tough week last week, dropping a pair of games to Ole Miss and Alabama. The Bulldogs have dropped to 3-6 in SEC play.
MSU was without a pair of important players this week, as both Trey Fort and KeShawn Murphy were unavailable. Fort hurt his thumb on his shooting hand during the Bulldogs' 64-58 win over Auburn.
Jans said Fort was day-to-day. Murphy has been unavailable for the Bulldogs for the past couple of weeks, but the 6-10 forward did go through warmups Saturday at Alabama.
Jans also said Murphy was day-to-day. Senior D.J. Jeffries had an awkward fall Saturday, and he limped to the bench and never returned to the game.
Jeffries has started every game for the Bulldogs this year and is arguably their best on-ball defender. Jans provided an update on the 6-7 forward.
"He has a knee issue, and he'll be out for a while. I'm not exactly sure how long. But it won't be long-term. He definitely will be out, though," Jans said.
The Bulldogs begin a tough stretch this week that may determine if MSU is in or out of the NCAA tournament in March. With this many injuries, the road to the tournament got steeper as the Bulldogs were already lacking depth before the Jeffries injury.
MSU is back in action on Wednesday at 8 p.m. central against Georgia at Humphrey Coliseum.
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