STARKVILLE — Mississippi State went beyond its traditional recruiting footprint to land Dellquan Warren as the crown jewel of its 2024 signing class, beating out eight other high-major schools for the combo guard from Erie, Pennsylvania.
Warren, who finished his high school career at Our Savior Lutheran in New York, initially decided to remain in the Northeast for college when he committed to Rutgers in late December 2022. But he reopened his recruitment the following spring, and three days after visiting MSU in September 2023, he committed to Chris Jans and the Bulldogs, choosing them over Alabama as well as four Big Ten and two ACC schools.
Consistent playing time, though, has been hard to come by for the freshman, even after Kanye Clary went down with a season-ending injury seven games into the season. The most minutes Warren has played was 13 against Georgia State in the second game of the year against Georgia State, and he has not played more than nine minutes in a Southeastern Conference game.
“We were impressed with Dellquan as an incoming freshman in terms of his motor, his defensive capabilities and upside. It started there for us. He really gave some of our more experienced guards fits in the summer,” Jans said. “Like every kid that’s new, but especially a freshman, he had a lot to learn in terms of the level, the standard, the daily (routine), the system. We felt like he had a legitimate chance to help us.”
Warren usually enters the game with between 14 and 10 minutes left in the first half, almost always replacing star sophomore guard Josh Hubbard. With Clary out for the year, MSU does not have a prototypical point guard, so Jans has relied on Warren to handle the ball for stretches when Hubbard needs a breather.
Whether he gets a second shift depends on how the first one goes. The only statistic Warren recorded in four minutes Tuesday night against Texas was a defensive rebound, and he did not play at all in the second half or overtime. Against Oklahoma on Feb. 22, Warren made just his second basket in conference play and added an assist in his first three-minute shift, and he was rewarded with another brief stretch of playing time in the second half.
“It’s been a mixed bag with him, to be honest. We want him to get minutes. We want him to be able to spell Josh,” Jans said. “Sometimes his first run isn’t what we need or would like, and he understands that as well. But he’s got a bright, bright future. Eventually, going into his second year, these minutes and exposure of just being a part of it is going to be valuable for him. We love him as a competitor.”
Scouting Arkansas
The No. 25 Bulldogs (20-10, 8-9 SEC) close out the regular season Saturday at Bud Walton Arena against the Razorbacks (18-12, 7-10), who have rebounded from a dreadful start to conference play and are now on the NCAA Tournament bubble.
Arkansas made a huge splash last spring, hiring head coach John Calipari away from Kentucky. Calipari won a national championship with the Wildcats and previously took Massachusetts and Memphis to the Final Four. Although his first year with the Razorbacks has been challenging at times, Arkansas has won six of its last 10 games after starting SEC play 1-6. That stretch includes wins over Calipari’s old team, Kentucky, as well as a ranked Missouri squad.
“The first thing that comes to mind is just their resiliency. They’ve had some tough injuries earlier in the SEC,” Jans said. “They’ve been able to survive a tough start to the SEC schedule. They’ve shown a resiliency amongst themselves to stick together and reinvent themselves.”
The Razorbacks’ two leading scorers, Adou Thiero and Boogie Fland, have both missed time recently. That has left Arkansas with just a seven-player rotation, but in a win Tuesday night at Vanderbilt, five Razorbacks scored in double figures, led by Johnell Davis’ 21 points and Trevon Brazile’s 16 points and 14 rebounds.
MSU will be the No. 9 seed in next week’s SEC Tournament in Nashville, Tennessee with a win over Arkansas, but the Razorbacks would jump ahead of the Bulldogs if they win Saturday, knocking MSU down to either the No. 10 or 11 seed.
“They have big guards. Their guards are physical, they’re lengthy, they’re obviously skilled,” Jans said. “They’re downhill guys. You’d better be hooked up and motored up and ready to guard the ball because they’re going to be in attack mode the majority of the 40 minutes. They play a big lineup. They’re only playing seven guys right now with Thiero out, but all of them are rangy and long and can get to the rim.”
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