Coach Chris Jans has taken the Bulldogs to the NCAA Tournament in each of his three seasons at Mississippi State. Jans is known as a defensive coach, but his offense skyrocketed last season. (Photo courtesy of Mississippi State athletics).
A prime question for Mississippi State was if point guard Josh Hubbard would be back for his third year with the Bulldogs. When Hubbard answered, “Yes,” it brought MSU the cornerstone it needed to use as a building block for the 2025-26 season.
Hubbard was second-team all-SEC among both the coaches and the media as he led the Bulldogs in scoring and was second in the SEC in posting 18.9 ppg and has scored 1,240 career points in his first two seasons in Starkville.
Josh Hubbard could operate as one of college basketball’s premier point guards in his third season for the Bulldogs. (Photo courtesy of Mississippi State athletics).
“Anyone that good, that young, there’s going to be talk about it,” said Bulldogs coach Chris Jans. “Again, what I said earlier, I look at returnees as everybody’s in the portal. I think it speaks volumes to who he is, what kind of person he is, how strongly he believes in our program and our community and our university.”
Motivation seems like a major motive for each player on Jans’ team.
“After the seasons we’ve had, just the ferocious taste of just wanting to go out there and play hard and show the fans what we can do,” Hubbard said. “We’re going to play exciting, play hard, and as a fan, I think those things are exciting to know and hear.”
Imminent Rebirth of Rosters: With the transfer portal and NIL, Jans has seen yet another general roster turnover. Defensive stopper Cameron Matthews remains alongside Hubbard after leading the league with 2.4 steals per game in 2024-25. 
From there, Mississippi State brings in Quincy Ballard, Jr., from Wichita State, and former Kansas State Wildcat Achor Achor into the post. Guard Ja’Borri McGhee played at UAB, and three-point shooting guard Jayden Epps of Georgetown will be two excellent additions in the backcourt. Arizona State transfer Amier Ali has plenty of athleticism and versatility on both ends of the floor.
“Defensively, we took a couple of steps back,” said Jans. “I knew we would. I just didn’t want to take two steps back. We took more than we wanted. We had that in mind when we jumped in the portal this year, tried to get, like you said, some length and more defensive-minded guys.”
Bringing It Together: Placing Jayden Epps in the rotation as a potential starter on the perimeter gives Jans another offensive weapon since he scored 18.5 points per game two seasons ago for the Hoyas and 12.8 last season.
“We’ve been working together trying to find out our roles, trying to see what everybody can do,” said Epps. “We are definitely still finding it. It’s a work in progress, and we are working every day.”
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