×

McGlynn named MVC Defensive Player of Year

Nick McGlynn

ST. LOUIS, Mo. — The yearly honors have been announced for the Missouri Valley Conference men’s basketball season and Drake University senior Nick McGlynn was named the league’s Defensive Player of the Year.

McGlynn, who was also selected to the all-conference first team and the all-conference defensive team, helped the Bulldogs win a share of the MVC title for the first time since 2008. He is also the first Drake player to earn Defensive MVP honors since the award’s creating in 1989.

In addition to leading the Bulldogs in scoring with 15.6 points per game and rebounding at 8.5 boards per game, McGlynn was tops in the MVC in defensive rebounds with 6.6 per game and second in blocked shots with 1.6 per contest.

His 52 total blocks on the year made him Drake’s all-time leading shot blocker with 143 total blocks in his career. McGlynn finished second in the voting for the Larry Bird Player of the Year in the MVC, 15 votes behind Loyola’s Marcus Townes in first.

Also earning an all-conference honor was Drake’s Brady Ellingson, who was given a second-team honor. Ellingson was also named to the all-newcomer team, and Bulldog freshman D.J. Wilkins earned a selection to the all-freshman squad. Wilkins won’t be able to help Drake in the postseason, however, as he suffered a broken ankle in the Bulldogs’ final regular season win over Missouri State and will miss the rest of the year.

The University of Northern Iowa had three total honors on the yearly teams. Freshman AJ Green was named the MVC Freshman of the Year, while Spencer Haldeman was one of two selections for the Sixth-Man of the Year.

Green, who also was a third-team all-conference honoree and named to the all-newcomer and all-freshman team, led the Panthers with 15.2 points per game, the first UNI freshman to average 15 or more points per game since 1999. He scored in double digits in 25 of 31 games this season while piling up 472 total points, and he joins Eric Coleman (2005) and Seth Tuttle (2012) as the only Panthers to be named the MVC Freshman of the Year.

Haldeman shared the Sixth-Man of the Year honors with Bradley’s Nate Kennell. Haldeman was third in scoring for UNI by averaging 7.9 points per game, and he finished the season with 50 3-pointers as well as a team-high 86.2 percent clip from the free-throw line.

Also earning an honor was guard Isaiah Brown, who was named to the all-defensive team for the Panthers.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.38/week.

Subscribe Today