Just Another Bulldog Minute: Dominance is Imminent for Tolu Smith

Now that he is starting to find his groove, Tolu Smith is a force that is waiting to be unleashed in the SEC and in March.

For Mississippi State, consistency is hard for most players in the program's history. From time to time, there will be a standout player but historically, MSU tended to fall behind other notable programs in the SEC. Kentucky is a basketball juggernaut by itself, while a few other teams will have a year or two in the limelight, but State has a noticeable ceiling.

Tolu Smith might be the person to break that ceiling for the program. After having a career year in the 2022-23 season, hopes were high when he announced his return to the program after leading the team to its best season in quite some time.

A foot injury in the preseason has limited his timetable in his last season for the Bulldogs, but in his time back, he has been a force to be reckoned with.

In the six games he has played, he is averaging 20 points and eight rebounds alongside a couple of dimes a game to teammates. In his last two games, he has put up 26 and 25 inching closer and closer to his career high of 28. He scored his career-high against MSU’s next opponent, Florida, in last year's SEC Tournament in an OT win to advance.

If you like an old-school back-to-the-basket type of player, Smith is that special talent that has started to phase out of basketball. He will be a key person to watch down the stretch of these upcoming games. If you watch closely, you can tell his in-game cardio is not all the way there, and once he gets fully into shape, he will be a dominant force that will be hard to contain.