JACKSON — It was a sweet repeat for Mississippi State’s two star basketball players.

Jarvis Varnado, a senior center and winner of the first national defensive player of the year award, and Lady Bulldog guard Alexis Rack each won for the second year in a row as the state’s top male and female collegiate basketball players Thursday night at the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame.

It was Varnado’s second straight Howell Trophy and the third major award he’s won over the past two weeks. The 6-foot-9 center was named the Southeastern Conference’s Defensive Player of the Year and won the first Lefty Driesell Award as the nation’s top defender.

For Rack, a senior guard who led Mississippi State to its first ever Sweet 16 spot in the NCAA Women’s Tournament, it was a doubly sweet day. She was selected in the third round of the WNBA draft earlier Thursday.

“I feel happy for Mississippi State. This is the second time for me to hold this,” Rack said of the Gillom Trophy. “I just have to thank my teammates. We made it to the Sweet 16. This feels about as good as when we beat Ohio State.”

Varnado had to hustle to get back to Jackson and accept the award in person. He’s been in Los Angeles this week preparing for the upcoming NBA Draft.

“Just training and trying to improve my game before the draft,” Varnado said.

When he won his first Howell Trophy last year, Varnado was weighing whether to leave State and enter the draft. Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy jokingly wanted him to leave. Bulldogs coach Rick Stansbury, who was not in attendance at Thursday’s ceremony, wanted him back so he could go after the national blocked shots record. Varnado obliged.

The Brownsville, Tenn., native broke the record that now sits at 564. He is also the only player in NCAA history to have 1,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 500 blocks.

“Coming out of high school, I knew I could block shots. What I needed to do in college was work on the offensive end. Hard work has taken care of that and now I’m ready for the NBA,” Varnado said.

Kennedy, whose junior guard Chris Warren was a Howell finalist along with Jackson State’s Garrison Johnson, got one of his wishes with Varnado departing State.

“I’m glad to see Jarvis go. Of the six coaches here, I’m the only one who doesn’t have a senior here, so I guess I have to keep coaching Chris,” Kennedy said.

Warren came back from an ACL tear last year to finish third in the SEC in scoring with 17 points per game. He was also seventh in assists at just over four per game.

“With Jarvis gone and those guys from Kentucky all leaving, maybe we can win the SEC. More power to those guys leaving early,” Warren said.

Rack’s win may have been a surprise considering Ole Miss finalist Bianca Thomas was the SEC’s leading scorer at 20.1 points per game and a first-team All-SEC pick.

Rack averaged 21.3 points in the NCAA Tournament and finished at 17.2 in SEC play to rank fourth. She scored over 30 points five times.

“Alexis is very deserving. She was a hard person to guard because of the variety of ways she can get off shots,” Thomas said.

Contact Jeff Byrd at jbyrd@vicksburgpost.com