INDIANAPOLIS -- Three separate First Team All-Horizon League players received accolades on Monday, as Player of the Year Keifer Sykes (Chicago, Ill./Marshall) earned Honorable Mention All-America status. Oakland's Travis Bader (Okemos, Mich./Okemos) was named a Division I-AAA scholar-athlete for the third straight year, while Green Bay center Alec Brown (Winona, Minn./Winona) is a finalist for the Lefty Driesell Defensive Player of the Year accolade.
Sykes joined Tony Bennett (1992) and Jeff Nordgaard (1996) as the only Phoenix players to earn the distinction, and Sykes becomes the first to do so prior to his senior campaign.
Previously, Sykes has been tabbed the Horizon League Player of the Year, All-Horizon League First-Team, a Lou Henson All-American and Mid-Major Player of the Year finalist, and an All-District pick by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association and the National Association of Basketball Coaches.
Sykes helped Green Bay to a 24-7 record in 2013-14 and a 14-2 mark in Horizon League play to claim the first regular season conference title since 1995-96. During the campaign, he averaged 20.3 points, 4.9 assists and 4.4 rebounds per game. He reached double figures in 29 of 30 games and his 608 points scored this season are the fourth-most in Green Bay history.
During the non-conference season, Sykes scored 32 points against Wisconsin, was named to the Great Alaska Shootout All-Tournament Team, and led Green Bay to a win over ACC champion Virginia with 21 points and 10 assists. In seven games played against NCAA Tournament teams, Sykes averaged 25.6 points and 5.1 assists per game.
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 has earned 10 in his career, both league records.
Bader was named to the Division I-AAA Athletics Directors Association Scholar-Athlete Team for the third straight year, announced on Monday. Bader earned his undergraduate degree in communications and will graduate with a master's degree this May.
Bader currently boasts a 3.51 grade point average in the communications graduate program. He is a three-time Academic All-League selection and was named to the Horizon League Fall Academic Honor Roll.
With a single-season school record 147 3-pointers made this season, Bader broke the all-time NCAA record with 504 3-pointers made. He set a new single-season school record with a 94.3 free-throw percentage and garnered All-Horizon League first team accolades. Bader was named to the Lou Henson Award All-American team last week, and is eligible for mid-major player of the year which will be announced byCollegeInsider.com at the NCAA Final Four.
Brown was tabbed the Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year in his senior season after recording a school-record 94 blocks. The senior's 309 career blocks matched the conference career mark.
The Minnesota 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 career, Brown accumulated 1,678 points, 800 rebounds and 309 blocked shots.
The Lefty Driesell award is named in honor of coaching legend Lefty Driesell, who is the only person to ever win 100 games at four different Division I schools. The winner of the 2014 Driesell award will be announced at the CollegeInsider.com Awards Banquet on April 4 in Dallas.
Tags: Green Bay - Men's Basketball · Oakland - Men's Basketball
