Josh Hubbard has been playing college basketball for two years, and both years he has been named the best player in Mississippi.
Josh Hubbard has been named the recipient of the Bailey Howell trophy for the second straight year after completing the regular season averaging 18.3 points, 2.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and nearly a steal a game while shooting 39.2 percent from the field. The Howell Trophy has been given since 2005 and honors Bailey Howell, the greatest player in Mississippi State as well as state of Mississippi college basketball history. The Hall of Famer and Starkville resident is a familiar face in Humphrey Coliseum and an ambassador of the college and professional sport.
Hubbard competed with fellow finalists Sean Pedulla from Ole Miss and Daeshun Ruffin of Jackson State. With two wins now under his belt, Hubbard joins a list of three Bulldogs to score back-to-back Howell Trophies, joining center Jarvis Varnado(2009 and ’10) and Quinndary Weatherspoon (2018, ’19). The Howell Trophy has gone to nine Bulldogs a total of eleven times. Ole Miss has sent six winners to the presentation party, with one each from Southern Mississippi, Delta State, and Jackson State. The Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum awards these trophies, and the winners are selected by a media panel.
Hubbard now joins a rare list of State players to win the award twice, which is nothing new for the MRA Patriot, who has seemingly been breaking records since he stepped on campus in Starkville. It has not only been individual success for the all-time leading scorer in Mississippi high school basketball; he has also had a lot of team success. He is set to make his second straight NCAA tournament, and the program as a whole will make its third consecutive trip to the Big Dance, which has not been done in 20 years.
Often, fans and media members alike do not realize that they are watching a legend in the making, but it is clear that Hubbard will be an all-time Bulldog remembered for decades. Hubbard has produced some iconic scoring games, including this year when he scored 38 points in front of a sold-out Humphrey Coliseum against fourth-ranked Alabama. It was a special game, but State ultimately fell short of the Crimson Tide 88-84.
However, this is about good times, and there have been plenty of them with Hubbard wearing maroon and white, and there may be plenty more to come. On the women’s side of things, the Peggie Gillom Trophy is given to the womens college basketball player. Former Bulldog Victoria Vivians won the award a staggering four times during her historic career
Now, that is not to say that Hubbard will achieve the same feat, but he will have that chance after winning his freshman and sophomore seasons. Hubbard will not have long to celebrate the award as he and his teammates will be back in action Wednesday at 6 p.m. CT against LSU in the first round of the SEC tournament in Nashville.
