STARKVILLE — Mississippi State basketball will get its top scorer back for this season.
Tolu Smith, who led the Bulldogs last season scoring a career-high 15.7 points per game, announced he is returning to Starkville for his final year of eligibility Sunday evening.
Smith, from Bay St. Louis, originally declared for the NBA Draft of April 1. He was not invited to last week’s NBA Combine in Chicago, signaling a return to MSU could be possible.
Smith had until June 1 to pull his name out of the NBA Draft, ultimately deciding he was ready to return to college more than a week before the deadline.
Smith, also led MSU in Chris Jans’ first season as head coach in rebounding, grabbing 8.5 boards, which only trailed Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe (13.1) in the SEC last season, and added 1.7 assists per game.
He was named an All Southeastern Conference First Team player last season after starting 24 games and shooting 57.2% from the field.
Smith finished in the top 10 of the SEC in total points (5th) and total rebounds behind Tshiebwe and Alabama’s Brandon Miller.
Smith’s return instantly elevates, not just MSU’s frontcourt group, but its entire roster, which was already slated to return four starters in Dashawn Davis, Shakeel Moore, D.J. Jeffries and Cameron Matthews, from a team that made its first NCAA Tournament appearance this past March since 2019.
With Smith returning, MSU sits one over the 13 scholarship limit, after also adding Jimmy Bell Jr (West Virginia) and Andrew Taylor (Marshall) out of the portal, meaning another player of the Bulldogs’ roster is likely to transfer.
The Bulldogs have already lost three players to the portal this offseason in guards Tyler Brumfield and Martavious Russell, as well as forward Kimani Hamilton.
Jans, who was given a contract extension this offseason through the 2026-27 season, also signed the No. 36 recruiting class in the country for the 2023 cycle.
Justin Frommer is the Mississippi State sports reporter for The Dispatch.
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