• 2024-25 All-OVC Men's Basketball Teams and Award Winners (PDF) | Women's Award Winners
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. - SIUE graduate guard
Ray'Sean Taylor named the 2024-25 Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year, Southeast Missouri's
Brad Korn earned OVC Coach of the Year honors, Little Rock senior
Tuongthach Gatkek was tabbed OVC Defensive Player of the Year while Lindenwood newcomer
Jadis Jones was named the OVC Freshman of the Year in voting by league head coaches and communications directors.
In his fifth year with SIUE, Taylor had his best season while leading the Cougars to its best season at the Division I level. SIUE finished OVC play with a program record 13 wins and earned the No. 2 seed for the OVC Tournament (its highest-ever OVC seed). Overall, the Cougars have 20 victories, the most since joining Division I. Taylor enters the postseason ranked 37th nationally in scoring (19.2 points/game), 39th in steals (2.03/game) and 57th in 3-pointers made/game (2.81). His 63 steals ranks 24th among Division I players, while he is 31st in total 3-pointers made (87) and 43rd in free throw attempts (137). In 20 Conference games he averaged 20.4 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.2 steals/game. He scored in double figures in 28 of 31 games and hit the 30-point plateau three times, including a career-high 33 points in a victory at Morehead State in February. During the season Taylor became the program's all-time leading scorer at the Division I level and enters the postseason with 1,908 points, which is just 41 away from the top spot in the program's full history. He also established SIUE record for career 3-pointers made (293) and is second in program history with 181 career steals. Taylor is the first SIUE player to earn OVC Player of the Year honors (the program first played a full OVC schedule in 2011-12).
Now in his fifth year at SEMO, Korn guided the Redhawks to the 2023 OVC Tournament Championship before the team finished 4-14 in league play last year and failed to make the OVC Tournament field. Picked seventh in this year's preseason poll, the Redhawks were 5-4 near the halfway point of the Conference slate before catching fire. The team won 10-straight games prior to a loss in the season finale; it marked the longest winning streak in SEMO's Division I history, and longest overall for the program in 35 years as the team claimed the OVC Regular Season Championship. It was the first outright title and second overall crown for the team (the other came in 1999-00). The 15 league wins tied the program record for OVC victories in a season while the +11 increase in the win column from last year, which established the best one-year turnaround in program history. Additionally, the team reached the 20-win mark for only the third time during its Division I era. Nationally, SEMO ranks fifth in 3-point percentage defense (28.5%). Among OVC teams, in addition to 3-point defense, the Redhawks also led the Conference in scoring margin (+7.48/game) and turnover margin (+2.97/game) and rank second in scoring (74.7 points/game), field goal percentage (46.1%), rebounding (33.8/game), free throw percentage (72.1%), assists (13.84/game) and assist-to-turnover ratio (+1.30/game). Korn is the second SEMO coach to win the honor, joining Gary Garner (1999-00).
In his first season with the Little Rock program, Gatkek made an immediate impact for the top defensive team in the OVC. At the end of the regular season the Trojans rank ninth nationally in field goal defense (39.0%), 15th in blocks (5.2/game), 22nd in turnovers forced (15.0/game), 24th in steals (9.1/game), 41st in scoring defense (66.6 points/game allowed) and 50th in 3-point defense (31.1%). The versatile forward stuffed the stat sheet ranking first in the OVC in blocked shots (1.5/game), seventh in rebounding (6.3/game), seventh in offensive rebounding (2.1/game) and eighth in steals (1.7/game) over 28 contests. In 17 OVC games his numbers were even better as he was first in blocked shots (1.7/game), third in rebounding (7.8/game) and sixth in steals (1.7/game) as the team finished tied for third in the OVC standings. Gatkek had a season-best five blocks in a game twice, which was tied for the league high. He had double-digit rebounds in eight games, including a season-high 14 at Lindenwood.
Jones was named OVC Freshman of the Week 12 times (out of 16 weeks) during the season, which established a new all-time league record. In 31 total games he averaged 12.7 points, 5.9 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 1.1 assists/game and hit 55.4 percent from the field. In 20 OVC games he increased his scoring average to 13.6 points/game, a mark that ranked 12th in the Conference. Jones scored in double figures in 22 games, including nine of the final 10 games of the season. On February 17 he was named OVC Player of the Week after he averaged 21.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.5 steals/game and hit 73.3 percent from the field in a pair of wins. That week saw him scored a season-best 27 points in an overtime win over Southern Indiana, as the team locked up a spot in the OVC Tournament field. Jones has three double-doubles this season and reached the 20-point plateau three times, including 22 in the regular season finale.
ALL-OVC TEAMS
For the only the second time in league history (and first since 1950-51), the All-OVC first and/or second-teams included zero repeat selections from the previous year.
This year's first and second-team All-OVC squads included 16 players from 10 different OVC schools. OVC Champion Southeast Missouri led the way with three selections, while Lindenwood, Little Rock, SIUE and Tennessee State had two apiece. The first and second-teams included three graduate students, four seniors, eight juniors and one freshman.
Taylor, the OVC Player of the Year, was the top vote getter and highlighted the eight-person All-OVC first-team (which was comprised of eight guards). He was joined on the first-team by a pair of SEMO players in junior
Rob Martin (14.5 ppg, 2.7 apg) and senior
Teddy Washington Jr. (14.4 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 2.5 apg). The team also included Little Rock junior
Johnathan Lawson (15.3 ppg, 5.3 rpg), Tennessee Tech junior
Jaylon Johnson (14.2 ppg, 4.8 apg), UT Martin junior
Tarence Guinyard (16.2 ppg, 4.7 rpg), Eastern Illinois senior
Nakyel Shelton (17.0 ppg, 4.6 rpg) and Tennessee State junior
Brandon Weston (16.0 ppg, 4.8 rpg).
The All-OVC second-team included Lindenwood's Jones, the OVC Freshman of the Year, who was joined by his teammate, graduate guard
Markeith Browning II (12.5 ppg, 4.3 rpg). The team also included Morehead State senior forward
Kenny White Jr. (12.3 ppg, 5.8 rpg), Tennessee State junior guard
Aaron Nkrumah (10.9 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 3.0 apg), SIUE junior guard
Brian Taylor II (12.3 ppg, 4.0 rpg), Western Illinois senior guard
Marko Maletic (93 made 3 -pointers, 47.4 3-point percentage), Southeast Missouri junior forward
Brendan Terry (11.3 ppg, 4.3 rpg) and Little Rock graduate guard
Mwani Wilkinson (12.8 ppg, 7.2 rpg).
Each of the five All-Newcomer Team selections were also first-team All-OVC picks and included Lawson, Guinyard, TTU's Johnson, Weston and Washington.
2024-25 All-OVC Men’s Basketball Teams and Award Winners
OVC Player of the Year: Ray'Sean Taylor, SIUE
OVC Defensive Player of the Year: Tuongthach Gatkek, Little Rock
OVC Freshman of the Year: Jadis Jones, Lindenwood
OVC Coach of the Year: Brad Korn, Southeast Missouri
ALL-OVC FIRST TEAM
Ray'Sean Taylor, SIUE
Rob Martin, Southeast Missouri
Johnathan Lawson, Little Rock
Jaylon Johnson, Tennessee Tech
Tarence Guinyard, UT Martin
Teddy Washington Jr., Southeast Missouri
Nakyel Shelton, Eastern Illinois
Brandon Weston, Tennessee State
ALL-OVC SECOND TEAM
Kenny White Jr., Morehead State
Aaron Nkrumah, Tennessee State
Brian Taylor II, SIUE
Marko Maletic, Western Illinois
Markeith Browning II, Lindenwood
Brendan Terry, Southeast Missouri
Jadis Jones, Lindenwood
Mwani Wilkinson, Little Rock
ALL-NEWCOMER TEAM
Johnathan Lawson, Little Rock
Tarence Guinyard, UT Martin
Jaylon Johnson, Tennessee Tech
Brandon Weston, Tennessee State
Teddy Washington Jr., Southeast Missouri