Oakland’s Travis Bader and Green Bay’s Keifer Sykes and Alec Brown have been named to the 2014 Lou Henson All-American Team, CollegeInsider.com announced on Thursday. The Horizon League standouts are among the 30 players on the team and are finalists for the Lou Henson Player of the Year Award, handed out annually to the country’s top mid-major player.
The Lou Henson Award will be announced at the CollegeInsider.com awards banquet on April 4 during Final Four weekend in North Texas.
Bader led the Golden Grizzlies with 20.6 points per game and a single-season school record 147 triples this season. That mark ranks second all-time in Horizon League history and he finished second in the league in scoring. Bader garnered All-Horizon League first team accolades and was an All-NABC first team selection for the second straight season. Along with holding the all-time NCAA mark for 3-pointers made, he also broke the record in attempts with 1,246.
After leading the country with 4.2 3-pointers made last season (139), Bader finished second this year with 4.5 made per game. He broke the single-season school record with a .943 free-throw percentage, which finished second in the NCAA. Bader also tied the all-time school record with 137 games played and set the all-time record in free-throw percentage at .878 (441-502).
Bader scored an OU Division I record 2,351 points, second all-time in program history. He holds the single-game school record with 11 3-pointers made versus IUPUI last season and made 10 triples in two games this year against Eastern Michigan (12/21) and Cleveland State (2/6). He appeared on #SCtop10 plays on two separate occasions this year.
Green Bay’s head coach Brian Wardle has already been named a finalist for the Skip Prosser Man of the Year award, which will be named at the CollegeInsider.com awards banquet as well.
Wardle, Sykes and Brown led the Phoenix to a 24-7 record and a 14-2 mark in conference play to claim the program’s first Horizon League regular season title in 18 years. Sykes (6 times) and Brown (4 times) combined to win 10 of the conference’s 17 player of the week awards. Read a complete season recap here.
Brown, a 7-foot-1 senior from Winona, Minn., wrapped up his Phoenix career with his best season. He was named to the All-Horizon League team for the third-straight season and to the league’s all-defensive team. Brown also claimed Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year honors after swatting a single-season school record 94 shots.
The Minnesotan averaged 15.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 3.1 blocks per game. In addition to points and blocks, Brown posted career-best numbers in three-point field goal percentage (.420).
In his storied career, Brown accumulated 1678 points, 800 rebounds and 309 blocked shots. Brown’s 309 blocks mark a school record and tied the Horizon League career record.
Sykes, who is one of just 10 non-seniors among the Henson Award finalists, adds to a long list of accomplishments garnered after an incredible junior season. The 5-foot-11 junior has also been tabbed the Horizon League Player of the Year, All-Horizon League First-Team and an All-District pick by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association and the National Association of Basketball Coaches.
The Chicagoan averaged 20.3 points, 4.9 assists and 4.4 rebounds per game. Sykes reached double figures in 29 of 30 games and his 608 points scored in 2013-14 were the fourth-most in Green Bay history.
The two-time All-Horizon League First-Team selection has scored 1,482 points and dished out 394 assists in his three-year Phoenix career, ranking in the top-10 in program history in each category. He won six Player of the Week awards in 2013-14 and 10 in his career, both league records.
The 5-foot-11 Sykes excels at getting to the rim, leading to 26 dunks and numerous trips to the free-throw line in 2013-14. With 188 free throws made this season, Sykes broke his own single-season school record. Totaling 415 in three seasons, Sykes also broke Tony Bennett’s Division I record for career made free throws.
