by WICHITA, Kan. – The Missouri Valley Conference released its 2015 men’s basketball all-conference team and specialty award winners, Tuesday.
For the second straight year, Ron Baker (Citizen Band Potawatomi) and Fred VanVleetwere both named First Team All-MVC, and Tekele Cotton (a second team selection) repeated as the Valley’s Defensive Player of the Year.
In addition, Darius Carter earned honorable mention status,Shaquille Morris gained a spot on the All-Freshman Team, and VanVleet joined Cotton on the All-Defensive squad.
The Valley will release its Most Improved and All-Bench Teams, as selected by the league’s beat writers, on Wednesday. The Scholar-Athlete Team, Scholar-Athlete of the Year and Coach of the Year awards will be announced on Thursday.
No. 8 WSU (27-3, 17-1 MVC) won the MVC’s regular season title for the second consecutive year and for the third time in four seasons. The Shockers are the top seed in this week’s MVC Tournament and will open play on Friday at Noon against either Missouri State or Southern Illinois.
Baker – a junior from Scott City, Kan. – finished second in the Player of the Year balloting behind Northern Iowa’s Seth Tuttle, earning five first-place votes.
The 6-foot-4 guard averaged a team-high 15.2 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists. A three-time MVC Player of the Week, he led the conference in three-pointers and finished with as many steals (35) as turnovers (35).
VanVleet – 6-foot junior – ranked third in the Player of the Year voting and earned four first-place votes. The point guard out of Rockford, Ill. led the conference in assists (5.3 per game) and averaged 16.2 points over the final 10 games of the regular season. He led the team with 54 steals and finished as WSU’s second-leading scorer (12.5) and third-leading rebounder (4.4).
WSU has had multiple first-teamers in three of the last four campaigns and 10 total selections since 2010. Prior to that year, the program had produced just eight first-teamers in the previous 26 seasons combined.
Cotton – a senior from Marietta, Ga. – has made back-to-back second team appearances. He’s averaging 9.4 points, 4.1 rebounds and ranks second on the team with 3.0 assists.
Cotton is the first two-time MVC Defensive Player of the Year in school history. Jamar Howard (2003) and Dwayne Praylow (1989) are the only other Shockers to win the award.
Cotton and VanVleet are both repeat honorees on the All-Defensive Team, marking the third-consecutive year that the Shockers have placed multiple players on the list. The WSU defense allowed just 55.9 points per game during the regular season – the nation’s ninth-lowest total.
When he’s on the floor, Carter – a 6-foot-7 senior forward from Akron, Ohio – has been one of the Valley’s most productive offensive players, averaging 11.5 points and 5.4 rebounds in just under 22 minutes per contest.
Morris, a redshirt freshman from Edmond, Okla., was a key contributor off the bench, averaging 4.8 points, 2.7 rebounds and 0.8 blocks in 12.6 minutes of action. He’s the first Shocker to make the All-Freshman Team since Toure Murry’ in 2008.
Morris is the seventh WSU player to be named to the All-Freshman team since it was introduced in 1999. Of the previous six Shockers to make the team, five went on to become 1,000-point scorers (Howard, Randy Burns, Paul Miller, J.T. Durley and Murry).
Shockers Earning 2014-15 MVC Honors*
Ron Baker – First Team All-MVC
Fred VanVleet – First Team All-MVC, All-Defensive Team
Tekele Cotton – Second Team All-MVC, Defensive Player of the Year, All-Defensive Team
Darius Carter – Honorable Mention All-MVC
Shaquille Morris – All-Freshman Team
