Postgame Notes: State vs. Xavier

TEAM NOTES

Mississippi State fell to Xavier, 81-63, during Friday's matchup at Colonial Hall in the Greenbrier Tipoff in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.
State scored the contest's first four points courtesy of back-to-back layups from ND Okafor and Josh Hubbard with 18:31 remaining.
The Musketeers responded with nine consecutive points and grabbed a 28-20 advantage at the 5:52 mark.
State rallied with a 7-0 spurt as Hubbard ripped off five straight points followed by a Tajuan Simpkins jumper to make it 28-27 with 3:34 to go.
Xavier answered and took a 41-31 lead into the half fueled by six treys, an 11-for-13 clip at the charity stripe and 20 points off its bench.
The Bulldogs would get as close as eight points in the opening moments of the second half, but Xavier would lead comfortably the rest of the way en route to an 18-point decision.
State maintained a 4-2 series advantage over Xavier, but the two teams have split the last four meetings.
State dropped to 46-10 (82.1 percent) versus non-SEC opponents during the regular season under Coach Jans.
The Bulldogs fell to 25-7 over the last five seasons under Coach Jans during the month of November.
State was outrebounded by a slim 44-43 margin. The Bulldogs grabbed 15 offensive rebounds and scored 18 of the game's 26 points on second-chance opportunities.
State moved to 13-6 in the regular season (68.4 percent) against fellow major conference squads from the ACC, BIG EAST, Big Ten, Big 12 and former Pac-12 under Coach Jans.
State shot 22-of-66 from the floor (33.3 percent), hit on 4-of-29 from three-point territory (12.8 percent) and connected on a 15-22 clip at the free throw line (68.2 percent).
State converted 18 of its 22 baskets inside the paint and outscored Xavier by a 36-24 margin in paint points.
Conversely, Xavier connected for a 24-60 shooting effort (40.0 percent), made 10-of-23 of its three-pointers (43.5 percent) and tallied a 23-for-34 mark at the charity stripe (67.6 percent).

PLAYER NOTES

Josh Hubbard

Started his 86th consecutive game over the past four seasons (01/27/2024-11/13/2026) where he has led the team in scoring in 59 of those 86 outings (68.6 percent).
Led the squad with 12 points coupled with 4 rebounds and 3 assists.
The senior guard now has 2013 career points which has allowed him to pass Quinndary Weatherspoon (2016-17-18-19) for 3rd place on State's all-time scoring list. Hubbard is 18 points shy of passing Bailey Howell (1980-58-59) for 2nd place.
The Madison native passed Vanderbilt's Shan Foster (2005-06-07-08) and Weatherspoon to move into 27th place on the SEC all-time scoring list.
Notched double figures for the 97th time over his 105 career games fueled by a current run of 16 consecutive outings (01/28/2026-11/09/2026).
The 97 games of 10+ points allowed Hubbard to equal Jeff Malone (1980-81-82-83) for 2nd place on State's all-time list.
Drained multiple three's for the 13th straight game (02/11/2026-11/13/2026) and the 87th time in his career.
Hubbard now has 322 career triples which puts him 4 treys away from passing Tennessee's Santiago Vescovi (2020-21-22-23-24) for 8th place on the SEC's all-time list.
The 3 assists allowed Hubbard to become the 18th player in State history and the first State player since Cameron Matthews (2021-22-23-24-25) to surpass 300 career assists.
Hubbard has 301 career assists and is tied with Timmy Bowers (2001-02-03-04) for 17th place on State's all-time list. He'll enter the UCF game 5 assists away from passing Craig Sword (2013-14-15-16) for the No. 16 spot.

RJ Johnson

Has made 26 of 29 career starts over the last two seasons between Mississippi State and Kennesaw State.
Attributed 11 points to go along with a pair of assists and rebounds.
Scored double figures in 17 of his last 19 games (01/28/2026-11/13/2026) stemming back to last season at Kennesaw State.
Posted his 3rd effort of 10+ points this season and his 36th career outing with double figures.
His teams are 23-13 when Johnson provides 10+ points.
Handed out multiple assists in 44 of 68 career games.

Kimani Hamilton

Made his 122th career appearance and his 110th consecutive start over the last four seasons between High Point, UNLV and State.
Compiled a solid all-around effort of 3 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks.
Hamilton surpassed the 1,500-point mark for his career.
Registered multiple steals for the 1st time this season and for the 33rd time in his career.
Collected multiple blocks for the 1st time this season and for the 11th occasion in his career.

Thomas Bassong

Started for the 21st time in 37 career games over the last two seasons between Mississippi State and Florida State.
Reeled in 2 points and 5 rebounds.
Grabbed 5+ rebounds in his first fourth games in Maroon and White and for the 13th time during his career.

ND Okafor

Made his 107th career appearance with 36 of his 38 career starts over the last two seasons between Mississippi State and Washington State.
Picked up season's best of 6 points and 6 rebounds.
Recorded a block in all 4 games this season and has at least one rejection in 52 of 68 games since the start of 2024-25.

BENCH

State's bench was outscored 34-29 by Xavier. It marked the 1st time that the Maroon and White were outscored in bench points this season.
Tristan Reed for the first sub used by Coach Jans for the 2nd time this season. He checked in at the 16:34 mark of the 1st half.
Garnered 6 points, grabbed a team-leading 7 rebounds and notched a block.
Totaled a block during each of the first 4 games of his State career.
Willie Burnett III chipped in a team-leading 9 points off the bench sparked by a 6-for-6 effort at the free throw line.
All 9 of Burnett III's points came during the 2nd half.
King Grace provided 7 points and 2 rebounds, while Jalyn Collingwood added 3 points and 4 rebounds.
Tajuan Simpkins contributed 4 points and was limited due to foul trouble.

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Players Mentioned

Thomas Bassong

Willie Burnett III

Jalyn Collingwood

King Grace

Kimani Hamilton

Josh Hubbard

RJ Johnson

ND Okafor

Tristan Reed

Tajuan Simpkins

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