Mississippi State guard Josh Hubbard was named to the All-SEC Third Team on Monday, his third All-SEC selection in three years. He and Erick Dampier stand alone as the only MSU players to achieve all-conference team honors in each of their first three seasons.
Hubbard, a junior, continued to expand his game as a scorer in the 2025-26 campaign, even as the team struggled to reach the collective heights he saw as a freshman and sophomore. He started all 31 regular-season games for MSU and led the team with 22.1 points per game, placing him 10th in Division I in scoring. He scored 20 or more points in 18 games, including 46 points in a win over Auburn and 42 points in the regular-season finale loss to Georgia.
Hubbard hit 93 three-pointers during the season, which made him the program’s all-time leader in career threes.
Head coach Chris Jans spoke of his star scorer’s growth as a player and a leader on Monday, reflecting on his humility and mentality as a team player.
“It’s been fun to watch his maturation as a player from his freshman year where he had a breakout game or two,” Jans said. “I remember going to Connecticut for a tournament, and he had a huge game in our tournament that fall [against Northwestern]. That was kind of his coming out party, if you will. I really harkened back to those days when he became our leading scorer, but the locker room embraced him. He did it in a way where in this day and age could cause problems with some people that maybe thought they were going to be in that role as older players in the program. Because of his approach, his work ethic and his humility, that was never a problem at all. Now, as he’s finishing his junior year, he’s had a remarkable career thus far both individually and as a team.”
The Bulldogs (13-18, 5-13 SEC) faced a downturn in results after three consecutive years of 20 or more wins under Jans. The program has a difficult start to nonconference play and ended their SEC campaign on a five-game losing streak.
“Obviously, this particular year, it’s not going to be the team type of season that he, nor anyone would want to have, but he’s got the opportunity to play in back-to-back NCAA Tournaments, which obviously, right now doesn’t look like it will be the case. But individually, he keeps upping his game. He’s one of the top scorers in the country. I fully expect him to be on one of the all-conference teams.”
The Bulldogs face a win-or-go-home situation in the SEC Tournament, starting with a game against Auburn in the first round on Wednesday.
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