Mississippi State University starting guard Ben Hansbrough will transfer from the university following the completion of the spring semester, according to a news release issued Monday by head coach Rick Stansbury.The occurrence has become a familiar one for the basketball squad. Hansbrough’s departure marks the fifth Bulldog player to transfer from the university in the past two seasons, and eighth in the past three years.
Hansbrough’s reason for leaving, however, is a concern that hasn’t been publicly voiced by any other player who has left.
“As far as the main thing goes, I don’t feel like I can be the best basketball player that I can be here,” Hansbrough said in an interview with the Clarion-Ledger.
He was not available for comment through Wednesday.
His primary complaint was the lack of a practice facility on campus. Since Humphrey Coliseum is often off-limits to the players at the start of the off-season, Hansbrough said he felt his needs would be met better at another school.
“That has a lot to do with it right there, just that simple stuff right there,” he said. “As simple as that may sound, that’s a huge thing for me.”
Hansbrough was the team’s fourth-leading scorer, averaging 10.5 points per game, on this season’s Bulldog squad, which fell in the second round of the NCAA Tournament to tournament runner-up Memphis. The junior-to-be also tied for the team lead in made 3-pointers with 62, and he led the team in free throw shooting at 78.9 percent for the season.
In addition, Hansbrough ranked third for the team in playing time for the season, averaging 33.5 minutes per contest. He said his rank didn’t factor into his decision.
“It had nothing to do with playing time,” he said. “I was playing a lot. There’s more to it than playing time.”
Stansbury said very little about the situation, limiting himself to a brief statement in the news release.
“Ben is a good kid, and we wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors,” Stansbury said.
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Hansbrough wasted no time in conversing with University of Missouri head coach Mike Anderson on Tuesday.
“It went good, and Coach Anderson seemed like a good guy,” Hansbrough told the Post-Dispatch. “I told him straight up, I said, ‘Coach, that’s the school I was raised with, and I have a lot of interest in playing for Missouri.’ And he said that he had a lot of interest in me playing for Missouri and that we’ll just keep in touch, get to know each other a little bit more and see what happens.”
Hansbrough, a native of Poplar Bluff, Mo., would be forced to miss next season per NCAA transfer rules.
His father, Gene Hansbrough, reiterated his son’s affinity for the school from his home state.
“Ben loves Missouri,” Gene Hansbrough told the Post-Dispatch. “I think he wants to play in a competitive program and be able to excel as a team. It depends on what opportunities present themselves in Missouri and even outside of Missouri.”
Ben Hansbrough told the Post-Dispatch that he hasn’t set his focus on a particular school yet, and he has interest in several universities. He expressed his desire in Purdue, Butler and Notre Dame.
He also said he had interest in playing for SEC foes Florida and Arkansas, though he said MSU probably would not allow him to transfer to either of those destinations.
“He’ll just go through the recruiting process,” Gene Hansbrough said. “We’ll take calls and visit places and see what place fits best for Ben … he doesn’t have his mind made up about anything except that he doesn’t want to play at Mississippi State next year.