Mississippi State enters the season with the same headliner and a very different supporting cast, and that’s where the real test begins.
Josh Hubbard is back for his senior year after another preseason first-team All-SEC nod, and he remains the centerpiece of everything the Bulldogs do. But Mississippi State’s bigger question is no longer what Hubbard can produce. It’s what the rest of the roster can add around him.
Hubbard averaged 22.1 points last season while starting all 32 games, and the Bulldogs have no mystery about his value. Official preseason notes from Mississippi State list Hubbard and Erick Dampier as the only players in program history to earn All-SEC recognition in each of their freshman, sophomore and junior seasons. Hubbard now has a chance to extend that run.
What’s different is the structure around him. Chris Jans has rebuilt the roster with an eye toward giving Hubbard more help and less of the burden he carried a year ago.
Mississippi State is trying to get back to the NCAA Tournament after missing out last season, and the path there is about more than having one elite scorer. It’s about building a team that can function with an identity.
Jans made that point clear in July, saying Hubbard needed more scoring support and had been asked to do too much. At SEC Tipoff this week, he laid out an even more specific goal.
“We’re trying to get [Hubbard] off the ball a little more and take away some responsibilities he’s had as a lead guard,” Jans said in Mississippi State’s official account of the event.
That’s the heart of the preseason conversation. It’s not just about whether Hubbard scores a lot again. It’s about whether Mississippi State can let him attack more often instead of making him start every possession himself.
RJ Johnson looks like one of the key pieces in that effort. The Kennesaw State transfer averaged 14.5 points and three assists last season and arrived with first-team All-Conference USA honors and conference tournament most valuable player recognition. Mississippi State needs him not only as another scoring threat, but as someone who can help organize the offense and create better looks for others.
Thomas Bassong brings a different kind of value. The Florida State transfer is listed at 6-foot-8 and 230 pounds on the current roster, and Jans has pointed to his ability to affect both ends of the floor and his defensive upside. Still, that promise has to show up in games before it means anything.
The same goes for the rest of the new-look roster. Tajuan Simpkins, ND Okafor, Kendyl Sanders, Ashton Magee and Trevor Reed join returning players and freshmen fighting for roles. That gives Jans options, but options and actual rotation answers are two different things.
The frontcourt mix adds another layer to watch. Okafor, Gai Chol, Tee Bartlett and freshman Tristan Reed each give Mississippi State different possibilities up front, and the preseason roster alone won’t tell us which combinations will work best. Jans hasn’t confirmed a starting lineup, and there’s no reason to pretend otherwise.
Mississippi State opens the regular season against Tennessee Tech at Humphrey Coliseum on Nov. 2, with tipoff set for 6:30 p.m. CT. Those early games should start to reveal how the Bulldogs want to play, but they won’t settle the bigger SEC questions.
The useful things to watch are simple. Can Mississippi State protect the ball while involving more than one creator?
Can possessions keep moving when Hubbard isn’t the one initiating them? Can the Bulldogs finish defensive possessions with rebounds instead of making themselves defend again?
Jans has also made it clear that he likes the group’s character, but that only matters if it shows up when the games start counting. Effort, communication, and how players respond after mistakes will tell the story far better than any preseason optimism.
So yes, the Bulldogs still have their star. But this season is really about the pieces around him - and whether Mississippi State can become harder to guard without leaning on Hubbard to do everything.
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One of the more unexpected developments came with Robert Sweat, whose place in Chicago suddenly shifted from routine roster note to a much bigger question. The Bears handed the defensive end a suspension that will keep him out for two games, and the situation now adds another layer of uncertainty for a player Mississippi State fans have kept tabs on since his college days. [Read more 🡒]
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Mississippi State's Fast Start Faces Its Biggest Test Yet
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Now comes the part that tends to separate a promising opening from something more lasting. The Bulldogs are about to run into a brutal stretch with LSU, Oklahoma and Texas ahead, and the injury picture is already adding pressure to a team trying to prove its rise is real. Kamario Taylor has been a central part of that conversation, and his status looms over what could be a defining week for Mississippi States season. [Read more 🡒]