The Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame has announced the finalists for the top male and female college basketball players in the state for the 2025-26 season.
Starting with the Howell Trophy, which goes to the most prolific hooper on the men’s side, a pair of Mississippians and a New Yorker are up for the honor. Mississippi State’s Josh Hubbard, a Madison native, headlines the group, as he is looking to earn the trophy for the third straight year. He is joined by Jackson State’s hometown hero, Daeshun Ruffin, and New York native Tylik Weeks from Southern Miss on the finalist list.
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Hubbard continues to rank among the program’s all-time greats with 1,947 career points, a school-record 311 three-pointers, and a historic season that included multiple 40-point performances while becoming the first Bulldog to record at least 700 points and 100 assists in a single year. Ruffin, the dynamic SWAC Player of the Year, averaged 23.3 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. Weeks, a first-team All-Sun Belt selection, averaged 19.7 points and 5.4 boards per game.
On the women’s side, where the Gillom Trophy is up for grabs, Ole Miss is represented by Ohio State transfer Cotie McMahon. Mississippi State is represented by freshman Madison Francis, and Southern Miss is represented by Jakayla Johnson.
McMahon, the SEC Newcomer of the Year, was a key contributor in the SEC with her all-around impact, averaging 19.5 points and 5.1 boards per game. Francis, a freshman, emerged as one of the nation’s top defensive players, averaging 13.2 points, 7.4 rebounds, and a nation-leading 2.8 blocks per game, while totaling 88 blocks. Johnson was the glue for the Golden Eagles, logging 15.6 points and 4.1 rebounds per game.
The winners of the Howell and Gillom Trophies will be announced at a luncheon at the Golden Moon Casino at Pearl River Resort on April 15. Tickets to the event are available here.
About the Gillom and Howell Trophies
The Gillom Trophy is named after Peggie Gillom-Granderson, Ole Miss’ all-time leading scorer and rebounder. She coached in the WNBA and the Olympics and retired after a seven-year stint as associate head coach of the women’s basketball team at Ole Miss.
The Howell Trophy is named after Bailey Howell, a two-time All-American at Mississippi State and a six-time NBA All-Star who played on Boston Celtics world championship teams in 1968 and 1969. Howell, a 1977 inductee to the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and the first male Mississippi player inducted into the National Basketball Hall of Fame, still holds nearly a dozen records at Mississippi State.