JACKSON, Miss. | Jackson State senior guard Daeshun Ruffin was chosen as a finalist for the 2026 Bailey Howell Trophy announced Tuesday by the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame.

The Howell Trophy is awarded annually to the top male college basketball player in the state of Mississippi. Ruffin is joined by Josh Hubbard (MIssissippi State) and Tylik Weeks (Southern Miss) as finalists. The Howell Trophy will be presented as part of an awards luncheon held at 11:30 a.m. in the VIP Room of the Golden Moon at Pearl River Resort on Wednesday, April 15. Tickets for the event are available online at www.msfame.com.

Ruffin, who was named SWAC Player of the Year and HBCUGo National Player of the Year, was one of only three players to average 20-plus points and five-plus assists in the country during the regular season, ending tied for third in scoring at 23.3 points per game and averaged 5.3 assists for Jackson State. He scored in double figures in 19 of 20 games to close the season, with the only game not in double figures coming in the season finale when he left the game early in the first half against Mississippi Valley State. He also scored in double figures 25 times, with eight games scoring 30-plus points including four conference games.

The senior recorded five or more assists 16 times including three games with 10 or more. He recorded 10 assists each against Alabama State and Alabama A&M (both on the road), and followed that up with a career-high 16 assists against Texas Southern. He recorded double doubles in all three of those games, scoring 39 points against Alabama (10 assists), 23 points against Alabama State (10 assists), and 22 points against Texas Southern (16 assists). 

He also recorded three or more steals six times including a season-high four against Bethune-Cookman.

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