Jackson State was picked 3rd in preseason media poll. Jayveous McKinnis, their 6-7, 225 pound center, was voted first team all-conference team and pre-season defensive player of the year. Last year he averaged 12.5 ppg, 13.2 rpg, 2.1 bpg and 1.1 spg. He’s their top returning scorer, with Tristan Jarrett (21.1 ppg) having graduated. He was drafted by the Raptors G-League team.
McKinnis seems to clearly be their best player. He entered the transfer portal after last season, but ultimately decided to return to Jackson State after receiving offers from a number of schools, including Southern Miss, Tulane and South Florida. They also picked up 6'2" guard Gabe Watson from Tulane (7.9 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 26.0 minutes) in the portal; Watson previously had transferred to Tulane from Southern Miss, where he averaged 13 ppg and 3.4 assists in 35.6 minutes as a sophomore.
Other returning starters/key rotation players include G Jonas James III (9.9 points and 3.1 assists in 30.4 minutes per game) and F Isaiah Williams (5.8 points and 5.5 rebounds in 23.6 minutes per game). Not clear to me at this point who else will be in their rotation.
None of these four appear to be deadly 3FG threats. James shot a decent percentage (35.5), but was not a volume shooter (11 made 3FGs over 18 games); Watson had 83 3FG attempts for Tulane last year, but converted only 26.5%.
This will be JSU’s first game against ranked opponent since December 2019, when they lost to Baylor and Memphis (by 26 and 28 points).
Jackson St. is scheduled to play Indiana, Marquette, Illinois St. and Iowa St. later this season, so this game tape will likely get some use by those teams.