• All-Time OVC Male Athlete of the Year Award Winners
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – Morehead State graduate forward
Riley Minix has been selected as the Ohio Valley Conference Male Athlete of the Year for 2023-24 in voting by the league’s athletics directors and communications directors.
The OVC Female Athlete of the Year will be announced on Thursday.
Minix was named the OVC Player of the Year and MVP of the OVC Tournament as he helped Morehead State win a share of the OVC regular season crown and its sixth OVC Tournament Championship. During the season he was named OVC Player of the Week five times and OVC Newcomer of the Week seven times. Minix finished the season with 733 points, the third-highest single season total in MSU history; his 20.9 points/game ranked 11th nationally. He was the first Eagle to average 20 or more points in a game since the 2003-04 season. Minix also added 9.7 rebounds/game (which ranked second in the OVC) and led the league and ranked sixth nationally with 19 double-doubles.
Minix had 20 games with 20 or more points, including a season-high 34 points in the OVC opener at Southeast Missouri. He also added 26 points in the OVC Tournament Title game against Little Rock and scored 27 in the NCAA Tournament against No. 3 seed Illinois. Minix, who played his first three seasons at Southeastern University in Florida, finished his career with 2,767 points.
Following the year Minix was named to the Lou Henson Mid-Major All-American Team and named a second-team Academic All-American by the College Sports Communication (CSC).
Minix is the second Morehead State athlete to earn the honor, joining men's basketball All-American Kenneth Faried in 2010-11.
Other male nominees for the award included Eastern Illinois senior distance runner
Adam Swanson, Lindenwood junior soccer player
Ethan Blake, Little Rock senior track athlete
Frankie Grey, Southeast Missouri graduate track athlete
Parker Feuerborn, SIUE graduate goalkeeper
Sam Gomez, Tennessee State senior defensive lineman
Terrell Allen, Tennessee Tech sophomore defensive lineman
Daniel Rickert, UT Martin offensive lineman
Gavin Olson and Western Illinois men's basketball player
Drew Cisse.
The OVC first gave out a Male Athlete of the Year award in 1977.