The lights were not too bright for Mississippi State on Saturday as they began their SEC campaign with a shootout in Austin.
The Bulldogs (10-5, 1-0 SEC) posted their best offensive game of the season, led by a joint career-high 38 points from Josh Hubbard and another 27 from transfer guard Jayden Epps. Their play propelled the Bulldogs in winning time late in regulation and the overtime period, and became another instant classic performance in the story of Hubbard as a Bulldog.
The star scorer has continued evolving into an elite shooter in Year 3 at MSU, averaging 22.5 points per game with nine 20-plus performances and two 30-plus performances. His 10 points in overtime helped put his team over the top, and earned himself the SEC Player of the Week award.
“You can see it. You can see he’s just got a bounce to him,” head coach Chris Jans said of Hubbard.
Despite some early misses, Hubbard continued getting to the line and putting up shots to help the Bulldogs set pace in Austin, and it was a reflection of the confidence he seems to be feeling at the moment.
“I’ve coached some guys that, it didn’t matter if they went 0-4, 0-7, they were gonna still feel good about it, but most people like to see it go through the net early. It gives them some more confidence than they already have. But (I’ve) definitely coached him long enough to know, and, you know, he’s in one of those zones, and he’s got a little more pop to his game on that end of the court.”
For the team as a whole, winning five in a row after a frustrating 4-5 start to the season has been a vindication of their approach. A team full of new faces had to navigate a difficult nonconference slate and overcome close contests night after night, but they’ve shown again that they can win a close one.
Despite the momentum, Jans made sure to point out that it’s only the beginning. His group is 1-0 in SEC play after a deserved road win, but it’s the first of many left to take on.
“You know, it was a great win, but it’s one game,” Jans said on Monday. “I’m happy for our guys. It was a joyous locker room, and we needed that, and fortunately, as the coach, I’ve been telling them that their practices have been even better since we got back on Christmas. Their hunger level was really good.”
Jans praised the team’s mentality coming out of the Alabama State win, which he called their “best” game of the season on both offense and defense, and that propelled the group into SEC play, but he also noted that the team has to continue to rise to the challenge to survive the rest of the way, starting with Oklahoma on Wednesday.
“I was hopeful that we would (step up), playing on the road, first SEC game, playing a program like Texas,” he continued. “And we did, but again, it’s one game. We got at least 18 more of these, if you count the conference tournament. We’ll have a lot of great opportunities down the road.”
Sooners coming soon
MSU faces Oklahoma (11-3, 1-0 SEC) in its next SEC matchup, a team that won comfortably, 86-70, against Ole Miss in its first conference game on Saturday.
The Sooners have just three losses so far this campaign, falling on the road in a heavy defeat to Gonzaga early in the season before adding home losses to Nebraska and Arizona State.
Nijel Pack and Xzayvier Brown lead the team with around 16 points per game each at guard, rounding out a prolific scoring group that averages 87.3 points per game.
“They’re so potent on the offensive end,” Jans said. “They’ve got great guard play, it’ll be quite the match up with Pack and Brown out front. We get two guys that got a ton of experience, a ton of know-how to play, both can really score the ball.”
The Bulldogs will tip off against the Sooners at home on Wednesday at 6 p.m. The game will air on SEC Network.
Family drama?
Jans also faced a question about the status of Ja’Borri McGhee on Monday, regarding a series of mysterious social media posts paired with the deletion of all previous posts.
The head coach didn’t address the situation directly, but stated that McGhee was with the team and in the building on Monday for shootarounds, saying “I think we’re all good” regarding the senior guard.
“We play a highly intense, emotional game that there’s a lot riding on it,” Jans said. “I think, as humans, we all think, say, in this era, post, things in the heat of the moment, that eventually, wish we could take back. Our basketball team is a family, and I don’t know about you, but, like, every family I’ve been involved with, stuff happens, especially behind (the) scenes, and we just work things out.”
McGhee played 21 minutes against Texas, but saw limited use down the stretch as the Bulldogs stuck with two guards in an effort to match Dailyn Swain’s 34-point performance. McGhee finished with seven points, two rebounds, two assists and three turnovers.
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