BRENTWOOD, Tenn. - After leading Murray State to a Top 10 national ranking and its third-straight OVC regular season championship, junior Isaiah Canaan was named the 2011-12 Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year, Racers first-year head coach Steve Prohm was tabbed OVC Coach of the Year and senior guard Jewuan Long was named OVC Defensive Player of the Year on Tuesday. Joining that Racer trio among the awards winners (done by a vote the League's head coaches and sports information directors) was UT Martin forward Myles Taylor, who was named OVC Freshman of the Year.
After being named the MVP of the 2010 OVC Tournament as a freshman and being selected to the All-OVC first-team a year ago, Canaan was no stranger to success during his collegiate career. Although he led Murray State in scoring as a sophomore, he was a part of a balanced overall team attack that saw him average only 11.7 points/game. After the graduation of two senior guards and a coaching change, Canaan became the focus of the offense and increased his scoring average to 19.4 points/game, which ranks second in the OVC and 22nd nationally. The junior has also knocked down a league-high 92 3-pointers (his 3.2 made 3-pointers/game ranks seventh nationally) and did so at a 48.4 percent clip (92-of-190), a percentage that ranks third nationally. Four times during the year he scored 30 or more points, including 36 in the championship game of the Great Alaska Shootout against Southern Miss on his way to Tournament MVP honors. Canaan hit multiple 3-pointers in 25 of 29 games during the season including five or more trifectas eight times; he knocked down a season-high seven 3-pointers twice, including his first seven attempts in the first half of a nationally-televised victory over rival Austin Peay on Jan. 7. Among OVC players Canaan also ranks fourth in free throw percentage (83.9%), fifth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.4) and 11th in steals (1.4/game). Canaan, who was named OVC Player of the Week six times during the season, is one of 20 players on the Oscar Robertson Trophy Watch List (given to the nation's top player by the USBWA) and one of 11 finalists for the Bob Cousy Award (given to the nation's top point guard). Overall Canaan is the 12th different Murray State player to be named OVC Player of the Year (those 12 players have won 16 total awards) and first since Cuthbert Victor won the award in 2003-04.
In his first season as a collegiate head coach, Prohm helped Murray State to a 23-0 start, which set the OVC record for most wins to start a season and overall winning streak during a season. The 23-0 start was the third-best in NCAA Division I history for a first-year head coach, trailing only a 33-0 start by Indiana State's Bill Hodges (1978-79) and a 26-0 start by North Carolina's Norman Shephard (1923-24). The Racers won the Great Alaska Shootout Championship in November and improved to 10-0 on Dec. 11 after winning 76-72 at then No. 20-ranked Memphis, the first win for an OVC team over a ranked opponent during the regular season since Dec. 1997. That win propelled Murray State to No. 24 in the Associated Press Top 25, making them the first OVC team to be nationally-ranked since the Racers were ranked No. 25 in the final AP poll of the 1997-98 campaign. As the Racers kept winning its ranking kept improving as MSU ascended to as high as No. 7 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll and No. 9 in the AP poll. That Top 10 ranking was the first for an OVC team since Western Kentucky was ranked No. 7 in the final poll of the 1970-71 season. Overall Murray State was ranked in the Top 10 for four weeks before falling out, although the team re-entered the Top 10 this week. After the squad suffered its first loss of the season on Feb. 9, Prohm re-grouped the Racers and led them to another victory over a Top 25 team, as MSU beat No. 16 Saint Mary's in the ESPN Sears BracketBusters series on Feb. 18. Murray State finished the OVC season with a 15-1 record and claimed its third-straight and 23rd overall OVC regular season championship. The team also finished the year with a perfect 13-0 road record, making Murray State the only Division I team to be undefeated in true road games during the season; as of Feb. 27 the 13 road wins were the most overall by any Division I squad. Prohm is the 10th different Murray State head coach to win the OVC Coach of the Year honor (that group has a total of 15 awards). Overall MSU coaches have now won the award three years in a row as Billy Kennedy won the honor each of the past two years before leaving Murray State to coach at Texas A&M prior to this season.
Long averaged 3.1 rebounds/game and blocked 20 shots from the guard position during his senior season. The Racers lockdown defender, he also had 33 steals in 29 total games in helping Murray State win its third-straight OVC regular season championship. His defense helped MSU lead the OVC in both field goal percentage defense (42.1%) and 3-point field goal percentage defense (29.7%) and rank second in scoring defense (61.7 points/game allowed). Overall he is part of the most successful senior class in Murray State history (101 wins entering this week's OVC Tournament). Long is the first Murray State player to win the award, which is only in its fourth year of existence; in fact he is the first player other than current Denver Nugget (and former Morehead State All-American) Kenneth Faried to win the award (Faried won the honor in each of its first three years of existence).
In his first season with the UT Martin program, Taylor made an immediate impact, breaking into the starting lineup in the first game of the season and starting 28 of the 29 total games. He averaged 13.7 points and 5.2 rebounds/game and hit 49 percent from the field, each of which led all OVC freshmen. Taylor had four double-doubles during the season and scored a season-best 31 points in a non-conference victory at Kennesaw State on Feb. 14. He was named OVC Freshman of the Week five times during the season. Myles is the third Skyhawk player to win OVC Freshman of the Year honors (the award was first handed out in 1990-91) and first since Marquis Weddle took home the award in 2007-08.
ALL-OVC TEAMS
This year's first and second-team All-OVC squads include 11 players from eight OVC schools. Murray State led the way with three selections (two first-team, one second-team) followed by Tennessee Tech with two picks. The first and second-teams included six seniors, four juniors and a sophomore.
Canaan, the OVC Player of the Year, and Tennessee Tech senior Kevin Murphy were each repeat first-team selections. They are joined on the first-team by Murray State senior guard Donte Poole, Tennessee State junior forward Robert Covington and Tennessee Tech junior guard Jud Dillard.
Murphy led the OVC and ranked 12th nationally in scoring at 20.6 points/game. He enters the postseason with 1,959 career points, 41 away from becoming just the 16th player in OVC history to score 2,000 points in a career. His biggest game of the season came on Jan. 30 against SIUE when Murphy hit 16-of-21 field goal attempts (including 6-of-9 from 3-point range) and 12-of-14 free throw attempts on his way to 50 points. The 50 points set a new Tennessee Tech single-game scoring record and was one of just 11 50-point games in OVC history and the first since the 1991-92 season (when Morehead State's Brett Roberts scored 53 against Middle Tennessee). The 50 points are the most by a Division I player in a game this season and was the first 50-point game since BYU's Jimmer Fredette scored 52 on March 11, 2011. Overall Murphy had three other games during the year in which he scored 30 or more points. Among OVC players he ranks second in 3-pointers made/game (2.4), fourth in 3-point percentage (42.9%) and 11th in rebounding (5.5/game).
Part of the most successful senior class in Murray State history (101 wins entering this week's OVC Tournament) Poole entered this season averaging 5.0 points/game over 84 career contests (which included just two starts). But the graduation of two senior guards gave Poole a place in the starting lineup and the senior made the most of that opportunity, averaging 13.9 points and 2.0 steals/game. His 402 points this year has almost eclipsed the 421 points he scored in his first three seasons at Murray State. The senior was consistent from 3-point range, knocking down 61 trifectas (2.1 made/game which ranked sixth in the OVC) and connecting at a rate of 39.9 percent, which was sixth-best in the OVC. Poole scored in double figures in all but six games this season and had a season-best 28 points in a nationally-televised victory over Tennessee Tech on Jan. 14. His scoring prowess helped provide a compliment for junior teammate Canaan, the OVC Player of the Year. Poole also played great defense, netting 58 total steals in 29 games (second-best in the OVC), which ranked him 37th nationally.
Covington showed his all-around game by ranking in the Top 10 in seven different OVC stat categories. The junior ranked second in the OVC in rebounding (8.1/game), third in scoring (18.1/game), third in 3-point percentage (45.0%), fourth in blocks (1.3/game), fifth in steals (1.6/game), sixth in field goal percentage (52.6%) and eighth in 3-pointers made (2.0/game). Covington also led the OVC with nine double-doubles in 30 total games and helped Tennessee State to its first winning season since 1995-96. With one more victory the team will reach the 20-win plateau for the first time since the 1978-79 season. He was named OVC Player of the Week twice during the season, including on Feb. 13 after helping the Tigers to a victory at No. 7 Murray State in which he scored 17 points and had eight rebounds including hitting the go-ahead 3-pointer late in the contest. That game was the only blemish an opponent put on Murray State record during the regular season.
Dillard combined with Murphy to average 38.6 points/game, which ranked the Tennessee Tech duo third nationally among teammates tandems. Dillard contributed 18.0 points/game, which ranked fourth in the OVC (and 46th nationally), while also leading the league in rebounding at 8.7/game, a mark that ranked 55th nationally, despite standing just 6'5". The junior had eight double-doubles during the year, the second-most among OVC players. Dillard also ranked seventh in the OVC in free throw percentage (81.9%) and eighth in field goal percentage (52.3%).
Due to a tie in voting six individuals were named to the All-OVC second-team, including Austin Peay senior center John Fraley, Eastern Illinois senior guard Jeremy Granger, Eastern Kentucky senior guard Jaron Jones, Murray State senior forward Ivan Aska, Southeast Missouri State redshirt sophomore Tyler Stone and SIUE redshirt junior forward Mark Yelovich.
Five players were selected to the OVC All-Newcomer Team, which was comprised of first-year players (freshman and transfers) in the league. Included in the selections was Stone, who was also a second-team All-OVC pick, and Taylor, the OVC Freshman of the Year. The other selections were Eastern Kentucky redshirt junior guard Mike DiNunno, SIUE junior forward Jerome Jones and Tennessee State redshirt junior Kellen Thornton.
2011-12 All-OVC Men's Basketball Teams/Awards
Player of the Year: Isaiah Canaan, Murray State
Defensive Player of the Year: Jewuan Long, Murray State
Freshman of the Year: Myles Taylor, UT Martin
Coach of the Year: Steve Prohm, Murray State
All-OVC First Team
Isaiah Canaan, Murray State
Robert Covington, Tennessee State
Kevin Murphy, Tennessee Tech
Donte Poole, Murray State
Jud Dillard, Tennessee Tech
All-OVC Second Team
Jaron Jones, Eastern Kentucky
Tyler Stone, Southeast Missouri
John Fraley, Austin Peay
Jeremy Granger, Eastern Illinois
Ivan Aska, Murray State
Mark Yelovich, SIUE
*Note there are 6 people on the 2nd team due to a tie in voting.
OVC All-Newcomer
Tyler Stone, Southeast Missouri
Myles Taylor, UT Martin
Mike DiNunno, Eastern Kentucky
Kellen Thornton, Tennessee State
Jerome Jones, SIUE