MSU sweeps again, Jackson, Perry take the Gillom, Howell
For the third year in a row, Mississippi State has swept the 2020 C Spire Gillom and Howell Awards, presented to the best male and female collegiate basketball player in the state.
Freshman Rickea Jackson and sophomore Reggie Perry received this year's awards.
MSU has swept the awards five times now, including last season when Teaira Mccowan and Quinndary Weatherspoon received the trophies and in 2018 when Victoria Vivians and Weatherspoon won. State also swept the awards in 2009 and 2010 when Jarvis Varnado and Alexis Rack both went back-to-back.
Jackson, a second team All-southeastern Conference selection, extended the Bulldogs' streak of Gillom Award winners to six consecutive years after Mccowan's selection last season and Vivians claiming the previous four trophies before that.
Winning the Gillom and other recognition has Jackson already focused on the future.
“It makes me want to work even harder,” Jackson said.
Currently posting one of the best freshman seasons in program history, Jackson is one of the top newcomers in all of college basketball. During conference play, she ranked fifth among all players with 16.5 points per game and eighth in field goal percentage (.480) and was also the team's second-leading rebounder (5.4 rebounds per game). She was the only freshman to earn SEC All-tournament Team recognition after averaging 20.3 points and 8.3 rebounds to lead the Bulldogs to their fifth-straight SEC Tournament championship game.
While being the focal point of every team's defense, Jackson recorded eight 20-point efforts, and she was the only freshman in the conference score 30 points in a game this season, notching a career-best 34 points in MSU'S win at Auburn. For the year, the SEC All-freshman Team recipient leads the team in scoring (15.1 points per game) and is third in rebounding (5.1 rebounds per game).
Jackson has scored in double figures in 23 games, including 18 games with at least 15 points, and has shot 50 percent or better from the field 15 times. The three-time SEC Freshman of the Week
has notched four double-doubles this year, including two during the SEC Tournament.
Perry, a SEC Player of the Year candidate, kept the Howell Trophy in Starkville for the third consecutive season which matches the program's longest streak accomplished by Jamont Gordon (2008) and Jarvis Varnado (2009-2010). Quinndary Weatherspoon (2018-2019) had won the previous two Howell Trophies for the Bulldogs.
Perry is already a top five finalist for the Karl Malone Award which given to the nation's top power forward by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He is the only SEC player to rank among the league's top 10 in points (17.4 – sixth), rebounds (10.1 – first) and blocks (1.2 – ninth). The Thomasville, Georgia product recently became the 17th player in program history to amass over 500 points in a season and has piled up all 11 of his 20-point performances where the Bulldogs have posted a 9-2 record since December 30.
Perry is attempting to become the 12th player overall and the fourth player during the 2000s to average a double-double at State. Only Bailey Howell (1956-57), Dave Williams (1965-66), Terry Kusnierz (197172) and Rickey Brown (1976-77) have accomplished the feat during their sophomore season or earlier in their careers. He is one of only six Power Five players to average a double-double this season. The last MSU player to average a double-double for the season was Arnett Moultrie (2011-12).
Perry has collected a Sec-leading 17 double-doubles this season highlighted by 13 double-doubles over his last 20 games since December 22.