Last Year: 21-14; 8-10, Ninth in the Southeastern Conference, lost in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament
Head Coach: Chris Jans (Third Year; 42-27 at Mississippi State, with two NCAA Tournament appearances)
Projected Starting Lineup
G Josh Hubbard – 5’11”, 190 Sophomore
G Kanye Clary – 5’11”, 190 Junior
G Riley Kugel – 6’5″, 210 Junior
F Cameron Matthews – 6’7″, 235 5th-year Senior
F/C KeShawn Murphy – 6’10”, 230 Junior
Experienced Reserves
G Claudell Harris, Jr – 6’4″, 200 Senior
W Shawn Jones, Jr – 6’5″, 205 Junior
W RJ Meléndez – 6’7″, 210 Senior
C Michael Nwoko – 6’10”, 245 Sophomore
C Jeremy Foumena – 6’11”, 250 Sophomore
C Gai Chol – 7’0″, 245 Sophomore
Freshmen
G Dellquan Warren – 6’2″, 180
F Eric ‘EJ’ Paymon – 6’9″, 230
Two years ago, Chris Jans debuted as head coach in Starkville, MS. He helped to guide Mississippi State to the NCAA Tournament on the back of a tenacious defense, and an offense which ranked among the bottom 40 teams in America in scoring. This year’s squad is going to make State fans forget all about those initial struggles to score.
The Bulldogs are going to feature four different scoring guards who can go off at any time, and together, they’re looking to light up Stark Vegas like never before. Josh Hubbard, Kanye Clary, Riley Kugel, and Claudell Harris are looking like the stars of what figures to be a whole new Hail State show. It won’t be a complete abandonment of the programming which has brought Jans here, either. With guys like returning fifth-year forward Cameron Matthews, the Bulldogs will still cover the heck out of people and work as hard as anyone.
Jans has quickly transformed his team from a scrappy bunch of junkyard dogs to a pedigreed pack. Now, with the Southeastern Conference looking more beefy than ever, State is out to find the right balance of chemistry to deliver on all of this group’s potential with a thrilling run through both league play and the NCAA Tournament.
The Bulldogs really needed a steady deep threat headed into last year, and they emphatically found one in homegrown breakout star Hubbard. A Madison, MS, native, it was pretty much impossible to keep Hubbard off the floor late last season. He was good all year long – Hubbard dropped 22 points and five triples in the second college game he ever played, and hit 20+ a dozen more times before season’s end. There were a pair of back-to-back 30-pieces at the end of February, and Hubbard showed that when his team needed him most, he was prepared to deliver. Over State’s final nine games, Hubbard averaged 24.2 points on 37.3% shooting from the land of trey. Call it an exclamation point on a sensational start for Hubbard, whose 108 made triples led the SEC and ranked 18th among all Division I players. Not many people saw all of that coming from a rookie who may not quite stand six feet tall, but Jans can see why Hubbard has accomplished so much already.
“His confidence, his belief stems from his work. He’s a dogged worker. He’s a disciplined worker. He works at his craft. He loves the game. It means so much to him,” Jams said of Hubbard, speaking towards the end of last year. “And he does it outside of the gym too…He hasn’t had a bad day since he’s been here.”
His breakout year in Happy Valley may have ended a bit prematurely, but Kanye Clary’s sophomore performance at Penn State was enough to show what an exciting player he can be. After being dismissed from the Nittany Lions late last season, Clary hit the transfer portal and became a hot commodity. Having chosen State, Clary will give the Bulldogs one of the smaller top pairings of lead guards around, but Jans and his staff are willing to trade height for the invigorating offensive effects of Hubbard & Clary. Playing alongside star distributor Ace Baldwin at Penn State, Clary became adept at getting to where he’s most comfortable and then letting the creativity flow. Not only did he triple his minutes per game from the smaller role he saw as a freshman, Clary demonstrated that he can go off against good teams even when they’re focused on stopping him. He went off for a career-high 28 against Butler, potted 27 against Wisconsin, poured in 23 at Maryland, and Clary posted 21 points with five assists at Michigan State.
After two seasons at Charleston Southern which saw him earn Big South All-Freshman honors and then all-league recognition as a sophomore, Harris made a smooth transition to the Atlantic Coast Conference. At Boston College last winter, Harris placed fifth in the ACC with 88 made triples. His 37.0% rate from the land of trey was a career high, and Harris slotted in effectively as an off-ball secondary playmaker. Throw in the fact that he offers more size than both Clary and Hubbard, and Harris appears to have a clear role for this State team. Decisive and composed, Harris should stretch the floor for the Bulldogs and effectively keep the ball moving around the halfcourt.
Kanye Clary’s sophomore performance at Penn State was enough to show what an exciting player he can be.
Starkville may not have been Kugel’s preferred destination to begin this year’s offseason, but it once was. A Florida native who had been a State commit before the Gators flipped him, Kugel spent two seasons in Gainesville and averaged just under ten points each year. His jumper was a weapon at times, but Kugel’s true shooting rate fell from 54.9% to 48.4% between his freshman and sophomore campaigns. Nonetheless, the 4-star talent which made Kugel a hot commodity coming out of high school remains, and saw him pledged to Kansas earlier this spring. Now, finally, Kugel will be letting fly for the Bulldogs, and only adds to a legit arsenal of perimeter weapons.
A different type of perimeter player, RJ Meléndez brings considerable size to the wing. Having previously played for Georgia and Illinois, Meléndez is more than familiar with both the SEC and high major competition. In Athens, GA, last winter, his improvements last year came about from his increased consistency; now, Meléndez is looking to finally deliver on his considerable skill as a marksman. The Puerto Rican product had a banged-up shoulder last year which didn’t help his jumper, but over the past two seasons, Meléndez has canned just 28.6% of his deep heaves. Still, his season at Georgia was Meléndez’s best, as he hit double figures in 18 contests, made seven starts, and posted a host of career-best’s. There was also his 35-point explosion (including six triples) against Florida in late January. Meléndez can slide in to play some minutes at forward (he posted a pair of double-doubles last year), and he played some of the best defense of his career for the Dawgs. If he can regain the threat of his stroke from downtown, Meléndez could become a key contributor for his new Bulldogs, and offer a new wrinkle to State’s rotation.
Shawn Jones, Jr has improved steadily over his first two years as a Bulldog. He’s got good size and plays quality defense all over the perimeter. Last season, he earned 17 minutes per game in a crowded backcourt, and Jones knows how to make plays defensively. That will help him hold onto a solid role, and his ability to bother and block shots on the outside is an advantage. If Jones can become a threat shooting the ball, he may even earn more time.
| Five Stats Which Tell The Tale (with national ranks) |
| 29.8% – Opponent 3FG Percentage (8th) |
| 32.1% – Team 3FG Percentage (270th) |
| 8.1 – Steals Per Game (40th) |
| 13.0 – Turnovers Per Game (293rd) |
| 33.5% – Offensive Rebounding Rate (22nd) |
He may not score like Hubbard, but the return of Cam Matthews is nearly as vital to the continuity of the Bulldogs. A tough, physical forward who plays bigger than his listed size around the lane, Matthews is also a strong defender out to the perimeter. He handles a great many of State’s most difficult covers, and Matthews has grown into a big-play-maker all over the floor. In addition to earning a spot on the SEC’s All-Defense squad, Matthews ranked second in the league – and 18th nationally – with 73 steals. His career-high 26 blocks marked the second straight campaign with at least 20 rejections. Now, the last frontier for Matthews defensively is to do all that he does without committing so many fouls. With his aggressiveness and all-out style, Matthews committed the most total fouls of any player in the country last winter. He had to sit after being disqualified from five different contests, and State lost each one of those games.
Even so, Matthews has shown real growth in other areas and should be able to tighten up his propensity to foul. He’s become quite effective as a playmaker on offense, and Jans will hope that Matthews can create great post feeds for the young centers. He certainly developed that knack while playing along with Smith. A bigger question may be: can the young posts catch and convert those quality big-to-big feeds?
The paint, which once unequivocally belonged to Smith, now passes to a mix of young bigs each vying to prove that they can become The Guy. Together, they bring varied experiences, unrealized potential, and all sorts of size for Jans to make use of.
Two of the young guys have already gained experience with what Jans demands of his post players. KeShawn Murphy has played 40 games and averaged 12 minutes per game through two seasons as a Bulldog, while Gai Chol saw limited action in 16 games for State last winter. While Chol remains an intriguing prospect, it’s likely that Murphy will play a significantly larger role as he enters his junior year. Big, strong, and unafraid to launch from the land of trey, Murphy has some tantalizing potential as a scoring big. He’s a strong offensive rebounder (10.2% rate last year), and the more Murphy focuses his effort and aggressiveness near the rim, the more good things seem to happen.
His perimeter threat would seem so much more potent if he could become an interior intimidator – and Murphy is hoping to significantly improve upon the 17.9% rate he splashed on triple tries a year ago. He’s a competent passer and solid rim protector; if Murphy can improve his consistency of his defense and jumper, he could make a genuine leap into both the starting role and the lion’s share of key minutes in the post.
A stout challenge for prime run in the middle will come from two new arrivals: Michael Nwoko from The U, and Jeremy Foumena, who had been at Rhode Island. At Miami (FL) last year, Nwoko was the top big guy off the bench in Jim Larrañaga’s four-out sets. Unfortunately, he didn’t see many minutes because the guy in front of him, Norchad Omier, played more than 30 minutes per game and had a monster season. Big and rangy with a strong frame that’s ready for SEC play, Nwoko should help keep State strong on the glass. He will try an open jumper if offered one, and Nwoko should be a worthy challenge for run in the middle.
| Five Out-of-Conference Games to Keep an Eye on |
| @ Memphis – December 21 |
| N McNeese State – December 14 |
| vs Pittsburgh – December 4 |
| N Northwestern/Butler – November 29 |
| N UNLV – November 28 |
There is considerable work still to do on his rougher edges, but Foumena’s potential is immense. Quick, mobile and skilled, the 6’11” Foumena owns a 7’3″ wingspan and can shoot it from three. After redshirting his first year, Foumena played an inconsistent but occasionally exciting 13 minutes per contest for the Rams last winter. Like Murphy, the Canadian newcomer has got the inside-out scoring ability to concern an opponent, and Foumena has a soft touch near the rim – when he’s not cramming down dunks; 15 of the 36 FG’s he made near the cup last year were flushes, per Bart Torvik. Foumena was also an immediate standout with his 12.6% rate on the offensive glass as a rookie, and Foumena shot nearly 60% on his 14 putback stabs, per Hoop-Math.
Two true freshmen will try to add their talents to the deep rotation. Playmaking guard Dellquan Warren has good instincts at both ends of the floor. He’s quick and sticky-fingered defensively, exciting in transition, and Warren runs an entertaining point. If he can make good decisions and hit shots, the Bulldogs will have another good one to develop. Eric Paymon is a long and skilled young combo forward who really stands out when he plays powerfully inside. At 6’9″, he’s a threat to face up and hit jumpers. If he can battle on the glass and show up consistently on defense, Paymon will be an intriguing backup to Matthews.
The SEC is completely loaded this year, but State is keeping pace. They’ve got the talent on paper to hang with anybody in their league, and Jans has led tremendous defensive outfits over the years. State found the guards to make shots and keep the offense flowing last winter. Now the challenge will be finding a new star or effective combination of youngsters. Additionally, this group will need to get back to locking down on defense, and ensure that foes can’t exploit their height restrictions in the backcourt. After two years of finding their footing as a contender, the Bulldogs are getting set to strike out for a breakout in March.
Leave a Reply