Big South Announces 2018-19 Men's Basketball Preseason Awards
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) -- Campbell senior guard Chris Clemons (Raleigh, N.C.) has been voted the 2018-19 Big South Conference Men’s Basketball Preseason Player of the Year by the league’s head coaches and media panel, it was announced today at the conference’s Basketball Tip-Off Media Luncheon at the Renaissance Suites Hotel in Charlotte, N.C. Clemons is the first back-to-back preseason award winner since High Point’s John Brown from 2013-16.
Clemons ranked fourth in the country in 2017-18 with a Big South-leading 24.9 scoring average. He was named to the Lou Henson All-America team by CollegeInsider.com and to the Big South All-Conference first team as well as All-District units from the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA). Clemons owns the nation's longest double-figure scoring streak (82 games) among active Division I players. He is second in Big South history with 2,232 points and needs 325 to become the league’s all-time leading scorer. Clemons’ career per game average of 23.01 in 97 appearances ranks first in the Big South record book. Last season, Clemons ranked seventh in the nation in total free throws made (211) and eighth in total points scored (772) despite missing three games due to injury. He scored a season-high 42 points (10-14 threes) on Jan. 23 in a 94-85 win at Liberty, drained game-winning buzzer-beater threes vs. High Point (Jan. 12) and Radford (Jan. 21), and was selected Big South Player of the Week three times during the regular season. A three-time All-Conference honoree, Clemons has scored at least 20 points in a game a school-record 71 times, including a school standard of 16 games with at least 30 points. He received 22 first-place votes and 309 total points in the voting to earn the top spot on the preseason All-Conference team.
2018-19 Big South Conference Men’s Basketball Preseason All-Conference Team
First-Team
Chris Clemons, Campbell, Sr., G (Raleigh, N.C.)
Ed Polite Jr., Radford, Sr., F (Lanham, Md.)
Christian Keeling, Charleston Southern, Jr., G (Augusta, Ga.)
David Efianayi, Gardner-Webb, R-Sr., G (Orlando, Fla.)
Jermaine Marrow, Hampton, Jr., G (Newport News, Va.)
Second-Team
Carlik Jones, Radford, R-So., G (Cincinnati, Ohio)
Jahaad Proctor, High Point, R-Jr., G (Harrisburg, Pa.)
Josh Ferguson, Winthrop, Jr., F (Miami, Fla.)
Isaiah Walton, Longwood, R-Sr., G (Oberlin, Ohio)
Deion Holmes, USC Upstate, Sr., G (Chesnee, S.C.)
Polite is a two-time All-Big South selection and was a member of the 2018 Big South All-Tournament Team. The sixth player in Big South history with 1,000 points, 800 rebounds, 150 steals, 100 blocks and 100 assists, he averaged 15.2 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.2 steals in conference games last season. Polite also earned NABC All-District 3 Second-Team honors in 2017-18.
Keeling is also a two-time All-Conference honoree, and became just the fifth Big South player to reach 1,000 career points as a sophomore in 2017-18. He ranked second in the league in scoring (17.6 points), was sixth in steals (1.3) and eighth in free throw percentage (79.3). Keeling was the Bucs’ leading scorer and rebounder (5.2) a season ago, and has scored in double-figures in 37 consecutive games.
Efianayi was the Big South’s fourth-leading scorer in 2017-18 as he averaged a career-high 17.5 points en route to Second-Team All-Conference honors. He averaged 17.8 points in league games last season -- including a 19.9 clip against the top four teams in the standings. Efianayi posted a career-best 80.7 free throw percentage and his 138 made free throws was second in the conference.
Marrow earned First-Team All-MEAC honors last season as a sophomore after averaging 19.1 points, 5.4 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game. He also collected First-Team BoxToRow All-America accolades and was named a Second-Team Black College Sports Page "BAAD" All-Star team member. Marrow enters his junior season with 1,133 career points to rank 21st on Hampton's all-time scoring list.
The Preseason All-Conference Second-Team features the 2017-18 Freshman of the Year (Jones), one Second-Team All-Conference honoree from a year ago (Proctor), the league’s fourth-leading rebounder last season (Ferguson), the fifth-leading free throw shooter (Walton) and a 1,000-point career scorer (Holmes).