We got to spend some quality time with MSU roundball coach Rick Stansbury this afternoon, and some of his players, too. In fact, we had a nice chat with the hot-handed Jalen Steele, and then I got a one-on-one with the sophomore guard. Doing a story on him for Wednesday.

But for now, let's check in on some of what Stansbury had to say as his No. 20-ranked Bulldogs (18-5, 5-3 SEC) prepare for Thursday's game against Ole Miss. First off, of course, State is trying to avenge a 75-68 loss to the Rebels on Jan. 18 in Oxford.

"We didn't play our best game and they played awful well," Stansbury said. "It's never easy on the road, and they are awful good there at home. There's some things – obviously, we don't want to put them on the free throw line as much as we did up there, and offensive rebounding was a factor in that game. We have to play better than we played the last time."

Here are some more thoughts from Stansbury.

• On whether sophomore Shaun Smith can consistently give five to eight minutes a game: "Probably against different teams or different personnel, but there's no reason he can't do that against everybody. And if he hadn't of been hurt I think we'd be way beyond that point, but just because of his situation that's where we're at right now."

• On just doing a walk-through Friday before facing Georgia: "That’s all you can do. Physically you can’t do anything. Mentally some of those adjustments that you can make for that game, it’s a quick turnaround. It is a challenge but it is part of the league and some have to do it more than others. Thank goodness we are at home on Saturday verses being on the road Saturday."

• On DeVille Smith's return: "He is back in school today, and he will be back at practice this afternoon. When he plays? Well, I haven’t made that decision yet, we’ll just have to see where he’s at and we’ll leave it at that."

• On Ole Miss wanting MSU to shoot 3-pointers the first meeting (State made 10 of 29): "I don’t know if they played us that way up there, I can’t remember right off hand. I don’t know if they were begging us to shoot it, you don’t have to beg us much to shoot it, we’ll shoot it."