Hines named media's Player of the Year, Hickman earns third-team honors

NORTH CHARLESTON, SC – UNC Greensboro junior forward Kyle Hines was named the Southern Conference Sports Media Association’s Men's Basketball Player of the Year on Thursday in a vote of the region’s media professionals.

Hines was named the Southern Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Year by the league’s coaches on Wednesday, making him the first player in the program’s 40-year history to earn the conference’s top honor.

Hines was named to the media’s first-team all-conference squad, while teammate Ricky Hickman was named to the media’s third team.

Hickman, a senior from Winston-Salem, NC, was a second-team selection last year. He enters the conference tournament averaging 14.1 ppg and is sixth in the conference in steals. He is tied for third in steals in conference play.

Hines was joined on the first team by Appalachian State’s D.J. Thompson, College of Charleston’s Dontaye Draper, Davidson’s Stephen Curry and Western Carolina’s Nick Aldridge. The second team consisted of Davidson duo Jason Richards and Thomas Sander, Georgia Southern tandem Louis Graham and Donte Gennie and Furman’s Moussa Diagne. Joining Hickman on the third team was Chattanooga’s Keddric Mays, Appalachian State’s Jeremy Clayton, Elon’s LeVonn Jordan and College of Charleston’s David Lawrence.

Curry was named the Southern Conference Freshman of the Year, while Davidson’s Bob McKillop was named the conference’s Coach of the Year.

Hines is one of four players nationally to be averaging 20 points and nine rebounds per game. He enters Thursday's quarterfinal match-up with Furman averaging 20.4 ppg and 9.0 rpg, ranking him second in scoring and first in rebounding. He led the Southern Conference in scoring for the first 100 days this season and currently has a streak of 49 consecutive games scoring 10 or more points going back to December 2005.  That streak is the fifth-longest active streak in the nation, trailing Trey Johnson of Jackson State (62), Caleb Green of Oral Roberts (59), Nick Fazekas of Nevada (56) and Brandon Heath of San Diego State (53).

Hines also leads the Southern Conference this season in blocked shots. Earlier this season, Hines became the first player in school history to record four 30-point games in the same season, including a 38-point effort in the season-opener against Marshall. That was the most points by a Spartan in a game since 1986 when the program was at the Division III level.

The only active player in Division I with career totals exceeding 1000 points, 500 rebounds, 200 blocks and 100 steals, Hines currently sits third on the UNCG career scoring list with 1,558 points in 88 career games. Hines has scored in double figures in 81 of those 88 games and has led the Spartans in scoring 45 of his 88 career contests. He has scored 572 points this season, six points shy of the Division I era mark he set last season. It also made him the first player in school history to record 500 points in two seasons, consecutive or otherwise. Hines

UNCG (16-13) is seeded fourth in this week’s Southern Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament. The Spartans will take on fifth-seeded Furman at 4:30 pm on Thursday in a quarterfinal match-up.

AGATE

2006-07 All-Southern Conference Men’s Basketball selections (media ballot)

First team: Kyle Hines (UNCG), D.J. Thompson (Appalachian State), Dontaye Draper (College of Charleston), Stephen Curry (Davidson), Nick Aldridge (Western Carolina).

Second team: Jason Richards (Davidson), Thomas Sander (Davidson), Louis Graham (Georgia Southern), Donte Gennie (Georgia Southern), Moussa Diagne (Furman).

Third team: Keddric Mays (Chattanooga), Jeremy Clayton (Appalachian State), LeVonn Jordan (Elon), Ricky Hickman (UNCG), David Lawrence (College of Charleston)

Player of the Year: Kyle Hines (UNC Greensboro)
Rookie of the Year: Stephen Curry (Davidson)
Coach of the Year: Bob McKillop (Davidson)

- UNCG -