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Mississippi State Basketball: Freshman Josh Hubbard early preseason tour standout

By Tristan Freeman

Feb 21, 2023; Columbia, Missouri, USA; Mississippi State Bulldogs head coach Chris Jans reacts to play against the Missouri Tigers during the first half at Mizzou Arena. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 21, 2023; Columbia, Missouri, USA; Mississippi State Bulldogs head coach Chris Jans reacts to play against the Missouri Tigers during the first half at Mizzou Arena. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports /
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Mississippi State Basketball is a team filled with veterans but right now, freshman guard Josh Hubbard is the one making the most noise for the Bulldogs.

We’re at the stage of the offseason where the teams that elected to do so are going overseas to play some international exhibition games. Mississippi State Basketball is one of them, currently in Portugal playing three games against local competition. So far, they’re 2-0, winning by a combined 86 points.

The Bulldogs are expected to be very good next season, so these results aren’t surprising at all. They return several key pieces from the team that won 21 games and made the NCAA Tournament, including star big man, Tolu Smith. And the SEC squad also landed one of the top transfers from the portal this offseason in guard Andrew Taylor, who averaged 20.2 ppg and 4.7 apg at Marshall.

What’s interesting about the first two games has been the leading scorer. It’s Josh Hubbard, a four-star guard prospect and one of three true freshmen on the roster. In the first game against the Lisbon All-Stars, the former Ole Miss commit had 12 points and three steals to lead the team. The guard then followed that up with 19 points in Mississippi State’s 100-40 win over the Portugal All-Stars.

The Bulldogs are understandably playing the young guys and newcomers more so it wouldn’t be fair to say that Hubbard is outplaying the likes of Taylor or Shakeel Moore, another projected rotation guard. But Hubbard has definitely been impressive on both sides of the ball and gives the team another capable ball-handler that can run the offense.

With Taylor only around for one year and Dashawn Davis also leaving after next season, Hubbard will be a featured piece on the Mississippi State Basketball roster sooner rather than later. Yet don’t be surprised if he ends up getting some decent minutes as a freshman next season, regardless of who else is in the backcourt.

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We’ll see what Hubbard does next in the team’s final game of the Portugal road trip, playing against the Porto All-Stars on Wednesday.

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