Wildcat Quartet Receives All-SoCon Media Honors
3/1/2007 3:04:45 PM | Men's Basketball
Joey Beeler -- Assistant SID
CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Davidson's Stephen Curry, Jason Richards and Head Coach Bob McKillop grabbed their second postseason honors in as many days, while Thomas Sander was also named to a Southern Conference Sports Media Association all-league team as announced Thursday afternoon.
Curry was selected the Freshman of the Year and to the first team while Richards and Sander earned second-team recognition for the Wildcats. Like the coaches, members of the SCSMA voted McKillop the Anton Foy Coach of the Year.
A native of Charlotte, N.C., Curry is leading the SoCon in scoring at 20.7 points per game, which is also the second highest by a first-year player nationally behind Kevin Durant of Texas. The 6-1 shooting guard has 104 three-pointers this season, tied for third most by a freshman ever at the Division I level and just six shy of breaking the record set by Keydren Clark of St. Peter's in 2003.
Along with ranking among national leaders in three statistical categories (scoring, three-pointers made and threes per game), Curry reached 20 points in 15 of the 29 games in which he scored double figures.
The three-time SoCon Player of the Week and November's Player of the Month broke five Davidson school records during his debut campaign including the single-season scoring record for points by a freshman.
Just the third Wildcat ever to receive the conference's top-freshman honor, Curry hit 41.1 percent of his attempts from long range while pacing the league in free throw percentage with a clip of 84.9 percent (101-of-119).
The leader of the Wildcat offense, Richards is second nationally in assists per game (7.5) and total assists (224). The junior tri-captain from Barrington, Ill., ranks third on the Wildcats in scoring with an average of 13.5 points, while shooting nearly 40 percent from three-point range and better than 80 percent from the charity stripe.
After backing up Kenny Grant (2003-06) at point guard for two years, Richards wasted little time breaking Grant's mark of 208 assists in a campaign that was set in 2005-06. Along with handing out a season record for assists, Richards reached 10 or more assists in a contest six times this year while breaking a school mark and tying the conferences for 19 in a game.
A 6-8 junior from Cincinnati, Ohio and product of Elder High, Sander is second on the team in scoring at 14.2 points per game while hauling in 6.4 rebounds each contest. A career 55.5 percent shooter from the field, he reached double figures in 21 contests and tallied five double-doubles.
Following his selection as SoCon Player of the Week for the week of Dec. 5, Sander joined fellow classmates and captains Boris Meno and Richards, on the Arizona State Sleep America Classic All-Tournament squad after Davidson claimed the crown with wins over Ohio and ASU.
The all-time winningest coach in school and SoCon history, McKillop recorded his 300th win earlier this season in Davidson's Jan. 27 defeat of Western Carolina. Sitting at 308-217 for his 18-year career with the Wildcats, McKillop has guided his club to eight conference divisional crowns, three league tournament titles and six postseason berths -- the NCAA Tournament in 1998, 2002 and '06, and the NIT in 1994, '98 and 2005.
With three-straight 20-win seasons for the first time since 1968-70, McKillop has now hit the plateau seven times during his tenure, including a Davidson regular season record for victories with 26 this year.
UNC Greensboro's Kyle Hines lived up to the preseason expectations earning the Malcolm U. Pitt Player of the Year. The junior was also named the conference's top player by the 11 league head coaches yesterday.
Davidson has won 10 straight for the second time in 2006-07 and 22 of its last 23 to sit 26-4 overall and 17-1 in the SoCon. The top-seeded Wildcats will meet #8 Chattanooga Thursday in the quarterfinals of the 2007 SoCon Men's Basketball Tournament at the North Charleston Coliseum. The re-match of last year's title game will tip-off at 2 p.m.
2006-07 Southern Conference Sports Media Association All-Conference Teams
Malcolm U. Pitt Player of the Year: Kyle Hines (UNCG)
Freshman of the Year: Stephen Curry (Davidson)
Anton Foy Coach of the Year: Bob McKillop (Davidson)
First Team
Kyle Hines (UNCG)
D.J. Thompson (ASU)
Dontaye Draper (CofC)
Stephen Curry (Davidson)
Nick Aldridge (WCU)
Second Team
Jason Richards (Davidson)
Louis Graham (GSU)
Thomas Sander (Davidson)
Donte Gennie (GSU)
Moussa Diagne (Furman)
Third Team
Keddric Mays (UTC)
Jeremy Clayton (ASU)
LeVonn Jordan (Elon)
Ricky Hickman (UNCG)
David Lawrence (CofC)
