Georgia State’s Hunter Repeats as Player of the Year, ULM’s Richard Earns Second Coach of the Year Award
NEW ORLEANS –Georgia State junior R.J. Hunter became just the fourth student-athlete in Sun Belt Conference men’s basketball history to earn back-to-back Player of the Year awards while UL Monroe head coach Keith Richard became the sixth head coach all-time to earn multiple Sun Belt Coach of the Year awards, the conference office announced on Tuesday.
The individual awards and all-conference teams were released following a vote by the league’s head coaches and a selected media panel.
Georgia Southern senior guard Jelani Hewitt earned the Defensive Player of the Year award while Troy guard Wesley Person earned the Freshman of the Year honor. Hewitt led the Eagles to a second place finish in their first year of Sun Belt Conference play while Person is the first student-athlete at Troy to win the Sun Belt Men’s Basketball Freshman of the Year award.
R.J. Hunter led Georgia State to its second-consecutive Sun Belt Conference regular-season title this season after he finished second in the league in scoring at 19.7 points per game and fourth in assists per game at 3.8. He ranks 18th in the country in points per game and 14th in total points (611). He has scored in double figures in all but two games this season and set the Georgia State career scoring mark on Jan. 24. He scored a season-high 37 points in a 77-72 win vs. Troy on Jan. 10, which is tied for the highest single-game scoring performance in the conference this season.
Fifth-year head coach Keith Richard completed one of the most dramatic rebuilds of a men’s basketball program in the country this season after leading the Warhawks to a 20-11 overall record and a 14-6 mark in conference play. Richard took over a program on Apr. 22, 2010, that faced APR penalties and scholarship restrictions. Since then the NCAA has lifted all sanctions and UL Monroe has won Sun Belt academic awards the last two seasons. Led by senior Tylor Ongwae (13.8 ppg, 6.9 rpg) and junior Majok Deng (9.9 ppg, 6.9 rpg), ULM doubled its win total for the second consecutive season. Richard previously won the Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year award in 1999 when he was the head coach at former member Louisiana Tech.
Hunter was named to the First Team All-Conference list for the second straight year and was joined for the second consecutive season by his teammate, senior Ryan Harrow. UL Lafayette junior forward Shawn Long, who posted 15 double-doubles on the season, also earned First Team honors. Rounding out the first team were Hewitt of Georgia Southern and Ongwae of UL Monroe.
Harrow was a First Team All-Conference honoree last season and leads the league in scoring this season at 20.2 points per game. The senior is also second in the conference in assists per game (4.0) and eighth in field goal percentage (.506). Harrow also ranks fourth in the conference with a .398 3-point field goal percentage and is fifth with a 1.9 assist to turnover ratio.
Long was a First Team All-Conference honoree after he was one of two players in the country to average at least 17.0 points and 10.0 rebounds per game. He led the conference in rebounding at 10.3 per game and ranked fourth in scoring at 17.0 points per game. Long was also third in the league with a .541 field goal percentage and blocked a conference-high 1.6 shots per game.
Hewitt scored in double figures in all but two games this season and ranks third in the conference with 18.2 points per game. On the defensive end, Hewitt has led the conference all season in steals per game and ranks sixth in the country in steals per game (2.66). He led the conference by making 3.0 3-point field goals per game.
Ongwae was 10th in the conference in scoring with 13.8 points per game and seventh in rebounds per game with 6.9. He scored a season-high 25 points twice this season and played five 40-minute games, all in conference play, including a stretch of four in a row. He was named to the Capital One Academic All-District First-Team. Ongwae grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds against South Alabama to go along with 16 points.
Person was fourth among freshmen in the NCAA in 3-pointers per game (2.6) and 3-point field goal percentage (.372). He was ninth in the conference in scoring at 14.2 points per game to lead all freshmen. He scored in double figures in 26 of Troy’s 29 games this season and surpassed Troy’s freshman Division I scoring record previously held by Robert Rushing in 1999.
The 2015 Sun Belt Conference Men’s Basketball Championship begins on Thursday, March 12 at 5 p.m. CT with the tip-off of first round games taking place at the Lakefront Arena. All games of the tournament will be carried by ESPN3. The championship game will tip at Noon (C.T.) on Selection Sunday, March 15, and will be televised nationally on ESPN2.
Sun Belt First Team All-Conference
Jelani Hewitt (Georgia Southern, Sr., Guard)
Ryan Harrow (Georgia State, R-Sr., Guard)
R.J. Hunter (Georgia State, Jr., Guard)
Shawn Long (UL Lafayette, Jr., Forward)
Tylor Ongwae (UL Monroe, Sr., Forward)
Second Team All-Conference
Frank Eaves (Appalachian State, Jr., Guard)
Anthony Livingston (Arkansas State, So., Forward)
Ken Williams (South Alabama, So., Guard)
Lonnie McClanahan (UT Arlington, Sr., Guard)
Emani Gant (Texas State, Jr., Forward)
Third Team All-Sun Belt Conference
Josh Hagins (UALR, Jr., Guard)
Trent Wiedeman (Georgia Southern, Sr., Center)
Jay Wright (UL Lafayette, So., Guard)
Majok Deng (UL Monroe, Jr., Forward)
Wesley Person (Troy, Fr., Guard)
Player of the Year
R.J. Hunter (Georgia State, Jr., Guard)
Defensive Player of the Year
Jelani Hewitt (Georgia Southern, Sr., Guard)
Freshman of the Year
Wesley Person (Troy, Fr., Guard)
Joe Gottfried Coach of the Year
Keith Richard (UL Monroe, 5th Season)