Men’s Basketball
It was a very good day for Mississippi State men's basketball player Tolu Smith on Monday.
Not only did Smith find out that he was the latest Bulldog to claim the Howell Trophy, but he was also voted to the All-southeastern Conference first team.
MSU has now had at least one ALL-SEC first-team selection during four of the last five seasons and the program has had a player claim the Howell Trophy during five of the last six seasons. The Howell Trophy is presented to the best male college basketball player in Mississippi.
Smith has been one of the main reasons why the Bulldogs have achieved a 20-10 record to this point of the season and in position for a bid to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019.
MSU head coach Chris Jans knew he had one of the building blocks for potential success in his first season with the return of Smith.
“I felt at that point that we were going to have a chance,” Jans said recently. “We had an anchor to our basketball team. We had someone who has been there and done that in this league. Especially to our staff and our style, he would fit it like a perfect glove because of the mantra of playing insideout with the right personnel, so we felt really good once he made that decision.”
Smith has been the most productive Bulldog this season by leading the team with 15 points and eight rebounds per game. He has scored in double figures for 15 consecutive games and has had eight double-doubles.
Earlier this season, Smith became the sixth MSU player since 2017-18 and 42nd player overall in program history to reach the 1,000-point mark in his career. He has currently has 1,152 career points.