Claudell Harris Jr. puts on a show in Bulldog debut
Two years after Mississippi State was the worst 3-point shooting team in the country, head coach Chris Jans has built a team that drastically changed the scouting report.
Josh Hubbard adjusted the shooting percentages a season ago when he set team records with his long distance shooting, but that wasn’t enough for Jans. The coach wanted an offense that was going to be able to go toe-to-toe with some of the best in the country.
He added a lightning quick point guard in Penn State’s Kanye Clary first. He also went and landed other Power 4 transfers like Riley Kugel from Florida and RJ Melendez from Georgia to add even more depth. While all three of those players are capable of big nights for State on any given evening, it was Claudell Harris Jr. that lit up The Hump in his debut.
The Boston College shooter came out in a 95-60 blowout win over West Georgia and nailed 6-of-10 3-pointers with 20 points in just 19 minutes off the bench. That along with Hubbard’s equally strong night was too much for the Wolves to handle.
“He had a great night. He can really get it going. He gets it off quick, has a beautiful stroke and has a lot of confidence,” head coach Chris Jans said of Harris. “The thing that stuck out to me is the guys that are in the best shape are playing the best and you can look at the box score and tell who that was. Those are the guys that win the sprints and dig in a little more and it shows up on gameday.”
Harris and Hubbard setting stage for big year in backcourt
Opening night with a new offense was eye-opening for those that follow the Maroon and White. The 14 combined 3-pointers have already broken the record for most makes in the Jans era.
12 of those came from the release of Hubbard and Harris as the two combined for 46 points on 17-of-24 and 12-of-17 from long range. It was a performance good enough to possibly have State fans writing in the combo’s names on the voting ballot on Tuesday.
Top 10
- 1Trending
Alabama AD
Greg Byrne fires back at chatter
- 2Hot
Projecting CFP Top 25
Controversy is coming
- 3
5 for Georgia transfer
Contenders for Julian Humphrey
- 4
ACC commish call out
Jim Phillips challenges CFP committee
- 5New
Kentucky coach on the move
Nebraska to hire UK asst.
It was a debut to remember for Harris but it’s only the beginning in his mind with Monday as he and Hubbard have the makings of a lethal duo.
“I came here to learn how to be a winner and I knew that I could do that with Chris Jans,” Harris said. “Me and Josh have a great relationship on and off the court. We talked to each other the whole game. Nights like this when he’s hot and I’m hot, it’s hard to stop.”
Where the Bulldogs might lack in post presence, they make up for in the depth and talent that’s been built by Jans in the backcourt. Questions persisted in the offseason of what kind of impact Hubbard’s monster freshman year would have on recruiting. The answer looks to be a resounding positive.
For Jans, Harris is a player that is everything that is right with the transfer portal. His intentions on coming to MSU weren’t to get more points or a bigger NIL deal – Harris came to Starkville to win and he’s off to the start he hoped would come.
“I love Claudell Harris. I love what he’s about,” Jans said. “He made a conscious effort this summer to buy in. You talk until you’re blue in the face to kids about that all the time and he did it. It wasn’t a gradual deal, he just decided one day, ‘I’m all in.’”
