Jimmy Bell Jr. Named SEC Men's Basketball Player of the Week

Mississippi State forward Jimmy Bell Jr. is one of the many offseason additions to the Bulldogs basketball team, but he was quickly given a much bigger role after highly-touted Tolu Smith's injury on Oct. 5.

Bell has been a major factor in the Bulldogs' 10-2 start to the season and this past Saturday's win over Rutgers in the Gotham Classic may have been his best outing while donning the maroon and white jersey. The conference's leading rebounder tallied a career-high 18 in that category and also added season-highs in points (17) and blocks (3). The game's MVP recipient produced the SEC's first game of the season with 15-plus points and 15-plus rebounds.

The SEC named Bell the conference's Player of the Week on Tuesday for his efforts. It marks his first career weekly award. Mississippi State has had at least one player claim the honor in nine consecutive seasons.

"I can't imagine where we'd be without (Bell's production)," Mississippi State head coach Chris Jans said following Saturday's win over Rutgers. "Jimmy came in knowing that Tolu was coming back. He had a lot of confidence in himself. Certainly, no one could have predicted that he would be in this position with playing a bigger role and more minutes than he's used to. He's really gotten himself in really good shape. Certainly, we're all excited about the idea of Tolu rejoining this team, but I don't know where we'd be without (Bell)."

Mississippi State has been the talk of the conference recently as Lauren Park-Lane was named the women's SEC Player of the Week on Tuesday as well.

This is a truly remarkable time for Bulldogs basketball.

Lauren Park-Lane Earns SEC Honor for Recent Performance