Big South Announces 2024-25 Men's Basketball Annual Award Winners
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – Charleston Southern’s
Taje’ Kelly and High Point head coach
Alan Huss have been voted the 2024-25 Big South Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Year and Coach of the Year, respectively, by the league’s head coaches and media panel, it was announced Tuesday afternoon by the conference office. The panel voted USC Upstate’s
Mister Dean the Freshman of the Year, High Point’s
Juslin Bodo Bodo the Defensive Player of the Year, while UNC Asheville’s
Jordan Marsh was selected as the Newcomer of the Year. Asheville’s
Fletcher Abee was voted Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the league’s Sports Information Directors.
Kelly is Charleston Southern’s first Big South Player of the Year honoree since his head coach,
Saah Nimley, won the award in 2014-15. Kelly entered this week second nationally with 230 field goals made, and is just one of three players in Division I to lead his conference in both scoring and rebounding, as he tops the Big South with averages of 20.8 points and 8.9 rebounds. Kelly is the first Buccaneer to lead the Big South in scoring since Nimley in 2014-15, as well as the first CSU player to be the league’s top rebounder since 2020-21. Kelly is also the first player to lead the conference both categories since former two-time Big South Player of the Year
Drew Pember did so in 2022-23, and is on track to become the first Charleston Southern Buccaneer to clinch the Big South’s scoring and rebounding titles in the same season since 1989-90. Kelly’s 625 points scored this season ranks seventh in the nation, while he is eighth in points per game and 25th with 268 rebounds. In Big South games, Kelly was second in the league with 22.5 points and 9.3 rebounds. He finished the regular season as the league leader with 10 double-doubles and 20 games with at least 20 points -- nine of which were 20-point, 10-rebound efforts. A four-time Big South Player of the Week honoree in 2024-25, Kelly received eight first-place votes and 234 total points from the panel, ahead of Marsh (217 points, four first-place votes) and Winthrop’s
Kelton Talford (203 points, two first-place votes).
Huss becomes the first back-to-back Big South Coach of the Year honoree since Towson State’s
Terry Truax in 1992-93/1993-94, and just the third overall. The second-year head coach led the Panthers to their second consecutive outright Big South regular-season championship with a 14-2 record, and a 26-5 overall mark -- tying the Big South record for most regular-season victories. Huss became the fastest coach in Big South history to reach 50 overall wins (64 games), is the fastest NCAA coach since N.C. State’s Everett Case in 1948 to reach 50 wins after taking over a program below .500 -- making it the fastest modern era program flip. High Point has been ranked in the Collegeinsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll all season (currently No. 10), and has received votes in the Associated Press Top 25 poll the last three weeks. High Point carries an 11-game win streak into the Hercules Tires Big South Men’s Basketball Championship as the No. 1 seed, and finished the league season tops in scoring (86.8), scoring margin (+14.3), field goal percentage (50.7), field goal defense (43.1), rebound margin (+6.2) and 3-point field goals made per game (8.6). Overall, the Panthers led the Big South in scoring defense, scoring margin (+13.6), free throw percentage (76.7), field goal shooting (49.4), rebound margin (+5.5), 3-pointers per game (8.3) and field goal defense. Named a finalist for the Collegeinsider.com Hugh Durham Mid-Major Coach of the Year, and leading the Big South’s top rated team in both KenPom (88) and NET (86), Huss received four first-place votes and 24 points overall, just ahead of Presbyterian’s
Quinton Ferrell (23 points, five first-place votes) and UNC Asheville’s
Mike Morrell (22 points, four first-place votes).
Dean becomes the second Upstate player in four seasons to earn Freshman of the Year honors. Dean ranked fifth overall in the Big South with 15.7 points, third with a 57.0 field goal percentage and was tops with 2.1 steals per game. He scored in double figures 24 times out of 31 games while also scoring 20+ points 10 times on the season. He was named Big South Freshman of the week six times in 2024-25 (Nov. 11, Nov. 18, Dec. 23, Jan. 13, Feb. 24, March 2), and tallied a career-high 25 points against UNC Asheville (Jan. 15) while also securing his first double-double by adding 11 rebounds. Dean recorded a season-high six steals against Charleston Southern (Jan. 29) and recorded a league-high 63 steals to rank 24th overall in the nation. He was Upstate’s leading shot blocker with 20. In conference games, Dean averaged 16.1 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.3 steals and 55.6 percent from the floor. He finished with 12 first-place votes and 79 points, ahead of UNC Asheville’s
Kameron Taylor (53 points, two first-place votes) and Winthrop’s
Paul Jones III (30 points, one first-place vote).
Bodo Bodo is the third consecutive back-to-back winner of the Big South Defensive Player of the Year award. He ranks No. 1 in KenPom offensive rebound rating (18.3) and No. 7 in defensive rebound rating (29.3), is 22nd nationally in rebounds (266), and is second in the Big South with 8.6 rebounds -- which increased to a league-best 9.8 per game in conference action. Bodo Bodo totaled 10+ rebounds in 13 games -- including a career-high 21 rebounds against UNC Asheville (Feb. 8), which is third all-time in HPU single-game history. He led the Panthers and ranked third in the Big South with 43 blocked shots, and registered multiple blocks in 11 games with a season-high four blocks at Presbyterian (Feb. 1). Bodo Bodo received 10 first-place votes and 40 points in Defensive Player of the Year voting, ahead of UNC Asheville’s
Toyaz Solomon (four first-place votes, 26 points) and Radford’s
Brandon Maclin (13 points, one first-place vote).
Marsh is the second Big South Men’s Basketball Newcomer of the Year, as the award was added in 2023-24 to recognize the top non-freshman transfer playing in the Big South for the first time. The sophomore transfer immediately impacted Asheville, as he has led the Bulldogs in scoring 15 times, led the Bulldogs in assists 15 times, and reached double-figures 26 times. Marsh scored 30 points or more three times -- the most 30-point efforts in the Big South this season. He finished as the conference-games scoring leader with 23.1 points, in addition to averaging 4.5 rebounds, 3.3 assists and a league-best 2.4 steals against Big South foes. Overall, Marsh turned in averages of 19.2 points (second in the Big South), 3.6 assists (sixth) and 2.0 steals (second). Against USC Upstate on Feb. 12, Marsh scored 27 points in the second half, the most points scored by a Bulldog in a half this season, and the most points for a Bulldog in a half since Dec. 21, 2023. Marsh also went 13-of-13 from the free throw line against Winthrop on Jan. 18, just the 15th time a Big South player made 100 percent from the charity stripe with at least 13 attempts. Marsh is No. 13 in the nation in field goal attempts, No. 19 in field goals, No. 26 in points, No. 36 in points per game, No. 34 in steals and No. 45 in steals per game. He was named Big South Player of the Week on Jan. 6 and Jan. 20. He collected 16 first-place votes and 60 points in Newcomer of the Year voting, followed by High Point’s
Bobby Pettiford Jr. (21 points) and Radford’s
Jarvis Moss (10 points).
Abee is a 3.829 double major in business and sustainability. He has been ranked among the NCAA leaders in 3-point field goal percentage most of the season, and has been recognized on the Division I-AAA ADA Scholar-Athlete Team (2023, 2024), the NABC Honors Court (2023), College Sports Communications Academic All-District (2023, 2024) during his time at Asheville, and is now a three-time Big South Men’s Basketball All-Academic Team member (2023, 2024, 2025).
The entire 2024-25 All-Conference team is as follows:
2024-25 MEN’S BASKETBALL ALL-CONFERENCE
First-Team All-Conference
Taje' Kelly, Charleston Southern
Jordan Marsh, UNC Asheville
Kelton Talford, Winthrop
Kezza Giffa, High Point
Kimani Hamilton, High Point
Second-Team All-Conference
Kobe Stewart, Presbyterian
Toyaz Solomon, UNC Asheville
D'Maurian Williams, High Point
Darryl Simmons II, Gardner-Webb
Juslin Bodo Bodo, High Point
Honorable Mention All-Conference
Kory Mincy, Presbyterian
Josh Banks, UNC Asheville
KJ Doucet, Winthrop
Jarvis Moss, Radford
Kasen Harrison, Winthrop
All-Freshman Team
Mister Dean, USC Upstate
Kameron Taylor, UNC Asheville
Paul Jones III, Winthrop
Carmelo Adkins, USC Upstate
Iverson King, Presbyterian
All-Academic Team
RJ Johnson, Charleston Southern
Shahar Lazar, Gardner-Webb
Simon Hildebrandt, High Point
Trey Hicks, Longwood
Kaleb Scott, Presbyterian
Jarvis Moss, Radford
Fletcher Abee, UNC Asheville
Karmani Gregory, USC Upstate
Ryan Jolly, Winthrop
Player of the Year
Taje' Kelly, Charleston Southern
Freshman of the Year
Mister Dean, USC Upstate
Defensive Player of the Year
Juslin Bodo Bodo, High Point
Newcomer of the Year
Jordan Marsh, UNC Asheville
Coach of the Year
Alan Huss, High Point
Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Fletcher Abee, UNC Asheville