STARKVILLE – “Bulldog Nation, I’m back.”
The message was straight and to the point from Mississippi State guard Josh Hubbard on Wednesday. The Bulldogs’ leading scorer in back-to-back seasons withdrew his name from the NBA Draft process and announced his return to Starkville via social media.
“This is nothing but exciting,” Hubbard said. “I was born and raised in Mississippi, so just to come back and wear the Maroon and White again means the world. I can’t explain enough how much Mississippi State means to me. I’m so excited and ready to get back to it already.”
Hubbard announced after the season that he would enter the NBA Draft, but was not one of the 75 players invited to the draft combine in early May. His return is a significant boost for Chris Jans after the graduation of Cameron Matthews and the departure of KeShawn Murphy through the transfer portal.
“I’ve learned there are levels to everything,” Hubbard said of the draft process. “Obviously the NBA is every collegiate player’s goal, and it takes a lot of hard work to get there. Just to get the experience I had and go through that journey definitely built my game even more for college, so I’m just grateful for the opportunity I had to put my name in the draft and learn a little more about myself that I can bring back with me to Mississippi State and help myself grow.”
Hubbard built on his electric freshman season with an impressive sophomore campaign, once again leading the team in scoring with an average of 18.9 points per game on 40% shooting and 34.5% from beyond the arc. He also became the only MSU player in program history to record at least 600 points and 100 assists in the same season and was selected to the All-SEC Second-Team. He currently stands at 1,240 points in his career and is on pace to crack the top 10 scorers in program history by the end of next season.
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