HuskerOnline.com - Gordon Named All-Sun Belt

February 29, 2012

WKU Sports Information
InsideHilltopperSports.com

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After a standout freshman season at WKU, Derrick Gordon was named to the All-Sun Belt Conference Third Team, announced Wednesday by the conference office.

He is one of only two freshmen on any of the three five-person all-conference squads.

Gordon averaged 11.7 points and 6.3 rebounds per game in the regular season and is the only Sun Belt Conference rookie to average at least 11.5 points per game this season. He ranks 15th in the conference in scoring and sixth in rebounding, and he has played the fifth-most minutes in the conference this season at 32.6 per game.

The Plainfield, N.J., native is the only Hilltopper to have started each of the 29 regular-season games this season, and he is on the verge of becoming the first freshman in WKU history to lead the team in scoring average and the first freshman in five seasons to lead the team in rebounding. Gordon's 340 points this season are the sixth-most by a freshman in WKU history as well.

He has notched 18 double-figure scoring games this year and has led WKU in rebounding 12 times. He scored a season-high 25 points in his debut game against Saint Joseph's on November 11, and he rides a stretch of four-straight double-figure scoring outputs into the conference tournament.

WKU has now had an all-conference selection in 13-straight seasons and 27 of 30 years since joining the conference prior to the 1982-83 season, but its streak of eight-straight seasons with a first-team selection, which spanned every year since the conference went to three all-conference teams in 2003-04, comes to a close.

WKU begins play in the 2012 Sun Belt Conference Tournament in Hot Springs, Ark., Saturday night at 8:30 against 10th-seeded FIU. Should the seventh-seeded Hilltoppers advance, they would play second-seeded UALR on Sunday night at 8:30. Information on how to follow the Hilltoppers in Hot Springs can be found in Tournament Central on WKUSports.com.

All-Sun Belt Conference First Team
D'Andre Williams (UALR, Senior, G)
Chris Udofia (Denver, Sophomore, F)
LaRon Dendy (Middle Tennessee, Senior, F)
Tony Mitchell (North Texas, Freshman, F)
Augustine Rubit (South Alabama, Sophomore, F)

All-Sun Belt Conference Second Team
Will Neighbour (UALR, Sophomore, F)
Brian Stafford (Denver, Senior, G)
DeJuan Wright (FIU, Senior, G)
Josh Brown (Louisiana-Lafayette, Senior, G)
Marcos Knight (Middle Tennessee, Junior, G)

All-Sun Belt Conference Third Team
Malcoln Kirkland (Arkansas State, Senior, F)
Jeremy Allen (FIU, Senior, G)
Phil Taylor (FIU, Sophomore, G)
J.T. Sulton (Middle Tennessee, Junior, F)
Derrick Gordon (WKU, Freshman, G)

Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year
LaRon Dendy (Middle Tennessee, Senior, F)

Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Year
Chris Udofia (Denver, Sophomore, F)

Sun Belt Conference Freshman of the Year
Tony Mitchell (North Texas, Freshman, F)

The Joe Gottfried Coach of the Year
Kermit Davis, Middle Tennessee

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