Stansbury Succeeds On All Fronts
May 12, 2023 | Men's Basketball, Joel Coleman
Bulldog basketball player has earned challenging degree while balancing on-court demands.
STARKVILLE – It was the mid-2000s when Isaac Stansbury's memories of Mississippi State started accumulating. His father, Rick, was of course the head men's basketball coach of MSU at the time and a very young Isaac could often be found all throughout the Humphrey Coliseum.
"I can recall going to games eating popcorn in the media room," Isaac said. "I'd even play Xbox against some of the former players."
Names like Charles Rhodes, Dee Bost and Ravern Johnson were among Isaac's video game competition.
"They went easy on me sometimes and I'd win," Stansbury said. "If they actually tried though, I wouldn't beat them."
Whether it's on a screen with a controller in your hand, or life in general, true success doesn't come easily after all. But now, some 15 or so years since Stansbury was going head-to-head with State legends, he knows all about giving it his all and achieving great things.
This weekend, Stansbury will graduate with his degree in petroleum engineering. Couple that with his time spent as a walk-on basketball player for the Bulldogs and he's a shining example for what a student-athlete should be.
"You've got to stay disciplined with everything going on," Stansbury said of how he was able to manage playing hoops while earning a challenging degree. "It's not easy. You've got to work hard and be dedicated. It's just been good to be able to get a good degree that took a whole lot of hard work and dedication to do and to do it while playing basketball makes it all mean more."
For Stansbury to get to this point, it's taken jam-packed days full of working out the brain and the body. He's always prioritized his classwork, as evidenced by the fact he's a multi-time member of the Southeastern Conference Academic Honor Roll.
"All my classes are in person," Stansbury explained. "So, you've got to go to class every day. You've got to do homework every day. They expect that the amount of time we're in class is the amount of time you spend on homework every day too."
Stansbury has had to master a math-and-science-heavy curriculum. There have been projects and group work aplenty. Obviously, group work is something Stansbury has been all too familiar with due to his basketball career.
Stansbury came to MSU prior to the 2019 season out of Greenwood High School in Bowling Green, Kentucky. He'd picked up competitive hoops as a middle schooler, worked to get as good as he could on the court, then was given an opportunity to walk on with the Bulldogs thanks in large part to how he'd exceled in the classroom.
"I knew coming out of high school I wasn't going to be a highly-recruited guy for basketball," Stansbury said. "I was provided the opportunity to walk on here because of my grades and the hard work I put in to be able to do this. And since getting [to MSU], I've just put all my time and effort into on and off the court things, including all the extracurricular things, the academics and the community service."
Stansbury has certainly had memorable on-and-off-court moments at State. He drained a 3-pointer in a game against Winthrop in 2021. He's heard the fans in The Hump chant his name as he's come off the bench late in contests. He got to the NCAA Tournament this past season.
However, his life away from basketball has been just as significant. He was on last year's SEC Student-Athlete Leadership Council where members serve as a conduit of communication from their teams to the conference office on issues related to student-athlete experience, student-athlete wellness, as well as provide feedback on proposed rules governing the SEC and NCAA.
"It was really cool," Stansbury said of the experience. "I got to know lots of different athletes from different schools that I would never meet otherwise. I've got relationships and still talk to some of those people and will stay in touch with them. In the SEC, there's a lot of really smart student-athletes that not only work hard every day in their sport, but also add a lot to the SEC outside of just their sport."
The cherry on top of it all is the degree Stansbury is about to receive. A petroleum engineering degree will enable Stansbury to work in a whole host of jobs in the energy sector if he so chooses.
Stansbury is incredibly proud of his degree, not only for what it means he accomplished, but because of where it came from. Remember, he was born a Bulldog.
"I grew up here in Starkville," Stansbury said. "Starkville and all the relationships I've formed here are very important to me. Getting my degree here means a lot. It's not just a degree. It means a lot more than that to me. That'll always stick with me in whatever I do after basketball and all my teammates and relationships I've formed here are long lasting and I'm grateful for all the opportunities I've gotten and all the relationships I've developed."
Stansbury's next steps are yet to be determined. He's contemplating coming back to MSU and getting a master's degree as well. For now though, he's just enjoying the moment as one of the latest Bulldog student-athlete success stories.
"All of this has been really cool," Stansbury said.
