ST. LOUIS -- AJ Green of regular-season champion UNI has earned the Larry Bird Trophy, presented by Great Southern Bank, given to the Missouri Valley Conference men’s basketball Player of the Year, as announced by the league office today. ?Green is a two-time winner, having also earned the award in 2020. ?He is joined by fellow Panthers Jason Daisy (1997), Adam Koch (2010) and Seth Tuttle (2015) as UNI student-athletes to earn the league's top individual honor. ?Green is the 10th player in league history to earn the Larry Bird Trophy more than once. ?No player has won the honor three times.
2022 MVC Men's Basketball All-Confernece Teams (PDF)
LARRY BIRD MVC PLAYER OF THE YEAR -- AJ Green, UNI
NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR -- Terry Roberts, Bradley
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR -- Tucker DeVries, Drake
DEFENSIVE MVP -- Lucas Williamson, Loyola
SIXTH-MAN OF THE YEAR -- Bowen Born, UNI
On Saturday, Green became just the 49th player in the league’s 115-year history to reach 1,700 career points as he enters Arch Madness with 1,702 for his career. ?He’s the 7th player in UNI basketball history to reach 1,700 for a career and needs 12 points to pass Bill McCoy (1969-73) on UNI’s all-time list. ?Only two other Panthers (1,787, Ben Jacobson, 2002-06) (1,747, Seth Tuttle, 2011-15) have scored more points than Green since the Panthers joined the Missouri Valley. ?
Green extended his career record for consecutive made free throws to 48 on Saturday against Loyola, before having the streak snapped in the second half. Green’s streak is tied for the fifth-longest in MVC history. ?Against Loyola in a game that decided the Conference crown, the Cedar Falls, Iowa, native scored 32 points. ?He finished the season with a league-best 21.2 points per game average in Conference only games, while also leading the MVC in free throw percentage (94.2%) and made three-point field goals (52) in league play.
Green led the team in scoring in five of the final six games of the season. ?After a 4-7 start to the season, the Panthers closed the season on a tear, winning 14 of their final 17 games (two of those losses were in overtime.)
Voting was conducted by coaches, sports information directors and a media panel (voters could not vote for their own student-athlete.) ?Including this year, 0 freshmen, 3 sophomores, 18 juniors (seven of whom repeated) and 33 seniors have won the award (spanning 1969-2021).?
The league's top newcomer is Terry Roberts of Bradley. ?Roberts, a transfer from Florida SouthWestern State, led the Braves in scoring (14.4 ppg), assists (126), and steals (46), while adding 40 three-point field goals and 5.0 rebounds per game. ?Roberts is the seventh Bradley player to earn the league's Newcomer of the Year honor, joining Seymour Reed (1972), Jim Caruthers (1973), Mitchell Anderson (1979), Hersey Hawkins (1985), Dion Thurman (1989), and Marcellus Sommerville (2004).
Loyola's Lucas Williamson is the league's Defensive Player of the Year. ?He becomes just the sixth player to earn the league's top defensive honor twice (Williamson also earned the honor in 2021). ?Loyola finds itself among the MVC's best defenses again this year, allowing just 62.9 points per game to rank second in the MVC. ?The Ramblers also rank third in field goal percentage defense (.421). ?Notably, the Ramblers held two league opponents under 40 points in a game this year (Evansville and Southern Illinois). ?Williamson, who led the Ramblers with 36 steals, joins Ben Richardson (2018) as the only Loyola players to earn the award. ?The league began selecting a Defensive Player of the Year in 1989.
The league's Freshman of the Year is Tucker DeVries of Drake. ?The MVC began selecting a Freshman of the Year award in 1986, and he's the third Bulldog to win the honor, joining Bart Friedrick (1986) and Luke McDonald (2001). ?The son of head coach Darian DeVries, Tucker leads the team in scoring (13.6) and three-point field goals (65). ?He added 23 blocks, 60 assists, 30 steals and 4.5 rebounds per game during the regular season. ?He enters this week as one of only five first-year freshman nationally to have reached 400 points (423) and 65 three-pointers made.
The MVC also selects a “Sixth Man Award” recipient, and for the fifth time it goes to a UNI student-athlete. ?The honor is presented to the league's top reserve player (one who has started fewer than 25 percent of his team's games - in all games or in conference-only play). ?The 2021 MVC Freshman of the Year, Bowen Born follows Lucas O'Rear (2009, 2010), Wes Washpun (2015) and Spencer Haldeman (2019) as Panthers to earn the honor. ?Born started just one game this season, but held averages of 24.0 minutes per game, while scoring 7.6 points per game. ?His 51 assists are second-best on the team. ?Born closed out the regular-season with 20 points on 6-of-9 shooting against Loyola last Saturday.
In addition to the specialty awards, the conference announced its all-conference units (first-team, second-team, and third-team), all-newcomer team, all-freshman team, and all-defense team. ?The all-bench and most-improved units have been selected by the league’s beat writers and will be announced Wednesday (March 2).?
| First Team?
|
Yr.
|
Pos.
|
Hometown
|
| AJ Green, UNI
|
Jr.
|
G
|
Cedar Falls (Iowa) Cedar Falls
|
| Isiaih Mosley, Missouri St.
|
Jr.
|
G
|
Columbia (Mo.) Rock Bridge
|
| Gaige Prim, Missouri St.
|
Sr.
|
F
|
Aurora (Colo.) Grandview (South Plains College)
|
| Terry Roberts, Bradley
|
Jr.
|
G
|
North Amityville (N.Y.) Florida SouthWestern
|
| Lucas Williamson, Loyola
|
Gr.
|
G
|
Chicago (Ill.) Whitney Young
|
|
|
|
|
| Second Team
|
|
|
|
| Noah Carter, UNI
|
So.
|
F
|
Dubuque (Iowa) Dubuque Senior
|
| Tucker DeVries, Drake
|
Fr.
|
G/F
|
Waukee (Iowa) Waukee
|
| Marcus Domask, S. Illinois
|
Jr.
|
F
|
Waupun (Wis.) Waupun
|
| Antonio Reeves, Illinois St.
|
Jr.
|
G
|
Chicago (Ill.) Simeon
|
| Garrett Sturtz, Drake
|
Sr.
|
G
|
Newton (Iowa) Newton
|
|
|
|
|
| Third Team
|
|
|
|
| Ben Krikke, Valparaiso
|
Jr.
|
F
|
Edmonton (Alberta, Canada) Jasper Place
|
| Rienk Mast, Bradley
|
So.
|
F
|
Groningen (Netherlands) Donar Groningen
|
| Cooper Neese, Indiana St.
|
Jr.
|
G
|
Cloverdale (Ind.) Cloverdale
|
| Braden Norris, Loyola
|
Jr.
|
G
|
Hilliard (Ohio) Hilliard Bradley (Oakland)
|
| Roman Penn, Drake
|
Sr.
|
G
|
Calumet City (Ill.) Bishop Noll (Siena)
|
|
|
|
|
| All-Newcomer Team
|
|
|
|
| Tucker DeVries, Drake
|
Fr.
|
G/F
|
Waukee (Iowa) Waukee
|
| Cameron Henry, Indiana St.
|
Jr.
|
G
|
Chesterfield (Va.) Lloyd C. Bird (Lincoln Memorial)
|
| Kobe King, Valparaiso
|
Sr.
|
G
|
La Crosse (Wis)? La Crosse Central (Wisconsin)
|
| Chris Knight, Loyola
|
Sr.
|
F
|
Madison (Wis.) James Madison Mml. (Dartmouth)
|
| Terry Roberts, Bradley
|
Jr.
|
G
|
North Amityville (N.Y.) Florida SouthWestern
|
|
|
|
|
| All-Freshman Team
|
|
|
|
| Tucker DeVries, Drake
|
Fr.
|
G/F
|
Waukee (Iowa) Waukee
|
| Isaac Haney, Missouri St.
|
Fr.
|
G
|
Springfield (Mo.) Kickapoo
|
| Connor Hickman, Bradley
|
Fr.
|
G
|
Bloomington (Ind.) Bloomington South
|
| Preston Ruedinger, Valpo
|
Fr.
|
G
|
Oshkosh (Wis.) Lourdes Academy
|
| Blake Sisley, Evansville
|
Fr.
|
F
|
Santa Claus (Ind.) Heritage Hills
|
|
|
|
|
| All-Defensive Team
|
|
|
|
| Donovan Clay, Missouri St.
|
Jr.
|
G/F
|
Alton (Ill.) Alton High (Valparaiso)
|
| Lance Jones, S. Illinois
|
Jr.
|
G
|
Evanston (Ill.) Evanston Township
|
| Aher Uguak, Loyola
|
Gr.
|
F
|
Edmonton (Alberta) Harry Ainlay (New Mexico)
|
| D.J. Wilkins, Drake
|
Sr.
|
G
|
Merrillville (Ind.) High (Florida SouthWestern)
|
| Lucas Williamson, Loyola
|
Gr.
|
G
|
Chicago (Ill.) Whitney Young
|