By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

Former Pascagoula high Class 6A “Mr. Basketball” Dorian McMillian is wasting no time in picking up where he left off in his first year of college basketball last season.
McMillian tossed in 23 points as his Jackson State Tigers fell to visiting Southern Miss 81-71 Monday night at Lee E. Williams Athletic and Assembly Center on the JSU campus in the final exhibition tune-up for both teams.
Issac Taveras paced the Golden Eagles in scoring with 20 points, including 14 in the first half. Tylik Weeks recorded a double-double, adding 16 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

McMillian, a 6-foot-3 sophomore guard, and his fellow Tiger back court mate Daeshun Ruffin were the two top scorers in the game combining for 48 points, as the pre-season SWAC Player of the Year Ruffin tallied a game-high 25 points.

“Dorian was OUTSTANDING! Tough, physical and skilled!” Southern Miss head coach Jay Ladner said, in response to a social media post about McMillian’s performance.
McMillian was named Second Team Pre-season All-Conference after he was named SWAC Freshman of the Year to end last season.

He scored in double figures 18 times last year. He also scored 20 or more points two times including a career-high 23 points against Alabama State (Jan. 11). He scored 20 points against nationally-ranked Iowa State (Dec. 8), scored 19 points two different times with the last coming against Bethune-Cookman (Feb. 17).
McMillian shot 50 percent or better from the floor 10 different times, recorded five or more rebounds 15 times. He recorded a career-high eight rebounds against Bethune-Cookman (Feb. 17), and a season-high three assists against Kentucky (Nov. 22). He recorded two or more steals 11 times, including a career-high three steals two times with the last coming against Mississippi Valley State (Mar. 8).
USM’s first regular-season game is at Buffalo for the MAC-SBC Challenge on Nov. 3 (6:30 p.m. CT, ESPN+). Jackson State will open its season at No. 14 Illinois on Nov. 3 (7:30 p.m. CT, Big Ten Network).