Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Tony Freeman, Gene Teague earn MVC honors
03/02/2010 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
March 2, 2010
ST. LOUIS, Mo. - A pair of Saluki men's basketball players earned Missouri Valley Conference honors, the league announced Tuesday.
Senior guard Tony Freeman was named to the All-Newcomer team after averaging 12.1 points per game and converting 42 percent of his 3-point shots during his first season at Southern Illinois. The Iowa transfer has the league's longest-active 3-point shooting streak, currently at 21-straight games.
Center Gene Teague was tabbed for the All-Freshman team. He became a factor midway through the season, earning a starting role and averaging 9.9 ppg and 6.5 rpg in his last 14 games.
After helping UNI to a school-record 25 wins and the school's first outright regular-season crown in The Valley, Adam Koch has been named the 2010 Larry Bird MVC Player of the Year. The senior forward is UNI's "glue" this year -- helping the Panthers achieve the highest national ranking in school history (18), while also leading the team to its most-ever league wins (15) since joining the Valley in 1991-92. He is the first player in league history to earn Player of the Year honors after not finishing in the Top 10 in the conference of any of the following statistical categories -- scoring, rebounding, assists, steals, or blocks.
Koch, who was third in the player-of-the-year balloting a year ago, averages a team-best 12.4 points per game and is second for UNI with 4.8 rebounds per game. His free throw shooting is fifth-best in the league as he's converted 120-of-144 from the stripe for 83.3 percent. He has played in 126 games as UNI Panther to rank No. 4 on the all-time games played chart and could establish a school record by season's end. Only Eric Coleman (128), Grant Stout (127) and Brooks McKowen (127) have played more games for the UNI Panthers.
Koch joins Jason Daisy (1997) as the only Panthers to earn the league's top honor.
The league's Newcomer of the Year is Adam Leonard of Missouri State. In his first year at MSU, the junior transfer from Eastern Kentucky ranks second for Cuonzo Martin's Bears in scoring (13.1 ppg.) and leads the league with 87 three-pointers made. That number is tied for third-best among any first-year player in league history. Leonard is the fourth MSU player to win Newcomer of the Year honors. Spencer Laurie was the last Bear to win Newcomer of the Year honors, doing so in 2007.
The league's Freshman of the Year hails from Evansville. Colt Ryan is the league's top-scoring freshman and ranks second only to Illinois State's Osiris Eldridge for the league's top per-game scorer. With 429 points this season (14.8 per game), he surpassed Jason Holsinger's freshman scoring record at UE (365) and he's the most-prolific scoring freshman in the Valley this decade (P'Allen Stinnett with 416 in 2007-08). He's the first Purple Ace to earn the honor, which was first awarded in 1986.
Dinma Odiakosa of Illinois State highlights the league's all-Defense unit, becoming the first Redbird to earn the league's Defensive Player of the Year honor since Dan Muller won two in a row (1996, 1997). Odiakosa has 25 blocks to rank among the league leaders, and he leads the league in rebounding and field goal shooting.
League coaches selected a "Sixth Man Award" recipient, and this season's honor goes to UNI's Lucas O'Rear, for the second-straight year. The honor is presented to the league's top reserve player (one who has started fewer than 25 percent of his team's games). O'Rear averages 4.2 points and 4.5 rebounds and 19 minutes while appearing in 29 games, starting three. He's the first to ever win the award twice.
In addition to the specialty awards, the conference announced it's all-conference units (first-team, second-team and honorable mention), all-newcomer team, all-freshman team, and all-defense team -- as selected by the league coaches. The all-bench and most-improved units have been selected by the league's beat writers and will be announced Wednesday (March 3).
LARRY BIRD MVC PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Adam Koch, UNI
NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR
Adam Leonard, Missouri State
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Colt Ryan, Evansville
DEFENSIVE MVP
Dinma Odiakosa, Illinois State
SIXTH-MAN OF THE YEAR
Lucas O'Rear, UNI
ARMY NATIONAL GUARD DEFENSIVE TEAM OF THE YEAR
UNI
MOST IMPROVED TEAM CAPTAIN
TBA (March 3)
PRAIRIE FARMS SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
TBA (March 4)
MVC COACH OF THE YEAR
TBA (March 4)
First Team
Osiris Eldridge, Illinois State
Clevin Hannah, Wichita State
Adam Koch, UNI
Dinma Odiakosa, Illinois State
Josh Young, Drake
Second Team
Jordan Eglseder, UNI
Kenny Lawson Jr., Creighton
Sam Maniscalco, Bradley
Harry Marshall, Indiana State
Kyle Weems, Missouri State
Honorable-Mention Selections
Kwadzo Ahelegbe, UNI
Ali Farokhmanesh, UNI
Toure' Murry, Wichita State
Adam Templeton, Drake
Andrew Warren, Bradley
All-Newcomer Team
Gabe Blair, Wichita State
Tony Freeman, Southern Illinois
Adam Leonard, Missouri State
Jermaine Mallett, Missouri State
Colt Ryan, Evansville
Ryan Wedel, Drake
All-Freshman Team
Jackie Carmichael, Illinois State
Colt Ryan, Evansville
Gene Teague, Southern Illinois
Seth VanDeest, Drake
Ethan Wragge, Creighton
All-Defensive Team (selected by coaches) - 4-way tie for 4th spot
Kwadzo Ahelegbe, UNI
Osiris Eldridge, Illinois State
Adam Koch, UNI
Kenny Lawson Jr., Creighton
Harry Marshall, Indiana State
Toure' Murry, Wichita State
Dinma Odiakosa, Illinois State
