Big South Announces 2025-26 Men's Basketball Preseason Honors
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – UNC Asheville forward
Toyaz Solomon (Enfield, N.C.) has been voted the 2025-26 Big South Conference Men’s Basketball Preseason Player of the Year by the league’s head coaches, it was announced this morning. Solomon is the second Asheville student-athlete in three years to be voted Preseason Player of the Year.
Solomon was a Second-Team All-Big South selection in 2024-25, as he ranked second on the Bulldogs with 15.7 points per game while leading the squad with a 61.0 field goal percentage, 7.2 rebounds per game and 51 blocks. Within the Big South, Solomon finished sixth in scoring, fifth in rebounding, and led the conference in blocked shots. Named to the Field of 68 Preseason Mid-Major All-America Second-Team ahead of the 2025-26 campaign, Solomon finished last year ranked No. 13 nationally in field goal percentage, No. 31 in total field goals, and No. 47 in blocked shots. He delivered career-best performances in multiple categories, including 24 points against North Florida (Dec. 17), 15 rebounds at Central Arkansas (Nov. 24), six assists versus Longwood (Feb. 22), and six blocks against UNC Wilmington (Dec. 21). In Asheville's conference-opening victory over High Point (Jan. 4), he made a career-high 11 field goals. Solomon received six first-place votes and 83 total points in the voting to earn the top spot on the preseason All-Conference team.
2025-26 Big South Conference Men’s Basketball Preseason All-Conference Team
First-Team
Toyaz Solomon, UNC Asheville, 5th Yr., F
Rob Martin, High Point, Sr., G
Scotty Washington, High Point, Sr., G
Elijah Tucker, Longwood, R-Sr., F
Jaylon Johnson, Radford, Sr., G
Second-Team
Kameron Taylor, UNC Asheville, So., G/F
Jonah Pierce, Presbyterian College, R-Sr., F
Daylen Berry, Winthrop, R-Sr., G
A’lahn Sumler, Charleston Southern, R-Jr., G
Karmani Gregory, USC Upstate, R-Jr., G
Martin was a First-Team All-Ohio Valley Conference honoree at Southeast Missouri last season, as he led the Redhawks with 14.8 points per game and scored 20-plus points seven times. He was the OVC leader in assist rate last year with a 2.63 ratio while averaging 4.7 dimes per game. Martin scored a career-high 31 points at SIUE on Feb. 27, and helped SEMO to its second-most wins in the Division I era with 21.
Washington was an All-Big West Honorable Mention selection at CSUN last year, as he averaged 14.6 points while making 161 field goals, 53 three-pointers and 106 free throws. He ranked 10th in the Big West in scoring and was fourth with an 85.5 free throw clip. Washington shot 42.6 percent overall from the field, and made 35.1 percent from beyond the arc. He averaged 15.9 points in conference play.
Tucker averaged 9.7 points and 5.0 rebounds per game while starting 26 of 32 appearances for the Lancers last season. He shot 58.5 percent from the floor, was the team’s leading rebounder and ranked 16th in the Big South in rebounding. Tucker scored in double figures 16 times in 2024-25 with two 20-point games -- including 20 points at SMU on Dec. 29.
Johnson was a First-Team All-OVC and All-Newcomer Team member last season at Tennessee Tech, where he scored 14.3 points per game while handing out 153 assists. He started all 32 games, led the Ohio Valley in assists and drained a team-best 75 three-pointers. Johnson scored a season-high 31 points against Western Illinois.
The Preseason All-Conference Second-Team features an All-Freshman Team member from last year (Taylor), a 2023-24 All-Big South honoree (Sumler), a 67.2 percent shooter from a season ago (Pierce), the league’s second-leading returning scorer from 2024-25 (Berry) and the conference’s top returner in assists from last season (Gregory).