Andrew Taylor, one of the nation's top 25 scorers in 2022-23 and a four-year standout at Marshall, has signed his Athletic Scholarship Announcement (ASA) announced by head coach Chris Jans.
Taylor, a 6-3 guard from Corbin, Kentucky, started all 110 career games for the Thundering Herd under Dan D'Antoni where he amassed 1,609 points, 553 rebounds, 456 assists and 201 steals. He drained 627 field goals at a 42.9 percent ratio, sank 218 three-pointers at a 35.5 percent clip and hit 137 free throws at 75.7 percent mark over the last four seasons.
Taylor doubled his scoring average during his four-year career at Marshall. He posted 10.1 points per game as a 2019-20 All-Conference USA Freshmen Team selection and wrapped his career averaging 20.2 points per contest en route to 2022-23 National Basketball Coaches Association (NABC) All-District 23 First-Team and an All-Sun Belt First-Team pick.
Taylor's Marshall squad secured 24 wins a top three regular season finish in the Sun Belt Conference. He joins the Bulldogs as a graduate transfer in 2023-24 and has one season of college eligibility remaining.
"We are thrilled Andrew has chosen to finish his college career as a Mississippi State Bulldog," Jans said. "Andrew amassed quite the resume during his four years at Marshall. He will add a scoring punch while stuffing the stat sheet with assists, rebounds and steals. We have high expectations for Andrew and believe he will influence our team winning basketball games next season."
Taylor was a stats sheet stuffer as the only player in the country to average at least 20.0 points, 4.5 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game last season. According to college basketball sports reference, he is joined by Shamorie Ponds of St. John's in 2017-18 as the only players to accomplish those averages in the last 10 years.
Taylor was a fixture among the 2022-23 Sun Belt rankings where he captured top 10 finishes in eight categories which included points (20.2 – 2nd), assists (4.7 – 3rd), steals (2.1 – 1st), three-pointers made per game (2.6 – 2nd), three-point percentage (36.4 – 2nd), 20-plus point games (14 – 4th), field goal percentage (41.7 – 7th) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.6 – 9th).
Taylor piled up 56 of his 77 career outings in double figures and compiled 21 of his 26 career performances of 20-plus points over the last two seasons. He also has secured multiple steals in 60 career games, grabbed 5-plus rebounds 58 times and dished out 5-plus assists on 44 occasions.
Taylor has registered eight career double-doubles sparked by a 33-point, 10-rebound, 6-assist and 3-steal effort at Coastal Carolina which enabled him to garner Lou Henson National Player of the Week accolades on Feb. 14. 2023. The award recognizes the nation's best mid-major player.
Taylor prepped at Corbin High School in Corbin, Kentucky under Tony Pietrowski. He came away with 26 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists per game as a senior and was a 2017-18 Mr. Kentucky basketball finalist. Taylor exited high school in third place all-time on the state of Kentucky's high school scoring list. He also was a three-time region and district player of the year.