Mississippi State coach Chris Jans knows that preseason All-SEC guard Josh Hubbard likely will be his team’s leading scorer for the fourth straight year.
Ahead of the Bulldogs’ meeting with Northwestern State on Thursday night in Starkville, Miss., Jans wants to continue to see Hubbard’s supporting cast chip in offensively.
Mississippi State (1-0) flew past Tennessee Tech 106-88 in its season opener on Monday, tying the program’s highest-scoring output since posting 109 points against North Florida on Dec. 30, 2017.
While Hubbard led the way with 25 points, fellow guard King Grace scored a career-high 23 points in a welcome development for Jans, the Bulldogs’ fifth-year head coach.
“None of us have any expectation that King is going to average 23 points per game, but he’s shown that he’s capable of being a leading scorer on a specific night,” Jans said. “He’s always been one of our tougher kids. He’s a hard worker, and he doesn’t back down from anything or anybody.”
Meanwhile, Hubbard pulled within 170 points of tying the program’s all-time scoring record, set by Jeff Malone (2,142) from 1979-83. While the senior inches closer to the impressive mark, his coach is more focused on Hubbard’s leadership abilities.
“I just have an unbelievably high standard for him, and I know he does as well, especially with all the experience he has,” Jans said. “I thought a big key (on Monday) was when our lead went from 20, 22 to 12 or 13, I thought Josh stepped up and showed why he is who he is for this basketball team.”
Northwestern State will play its second and final game against a power conference opponent on Thursday. The Demons (0-1) never led in an 87-65 loss at Baylor on Monday.
Coach Rick Cabrera’s Demons were largely reconstructed with non-Division I transfers after a 10-22 season in 2025-26. Kai Simpson (from Thomas More), Nathan Ojukwu (Dakota State) and Isaiah Vick (Wingate) accounted for 42 of the Demons’ 65 points against the Bears.
Another difficult task awaits Cabrera’s new-look group.
“Our guys are excited for the next opportunity,” Cabrera said of facing the Bulldogs. “We always want to play on the biggest stage against the best, and these types of games are going to help us with our conference (Southland). But we go into these games and try to win them.”