Dalzell’s Ja Morant named Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year

BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – Murray State sophomore guard Ja Morant was named the 2018-19 Ohio Valley Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Year after leading the Racers to a 16-2 league record and a share of OVC regular season championship. His senior teammate Shaq Buchanan was tabbed the OVC Defensive Player of the Year, Belmont center Nick Muszynski was named Freshman of the Year while his coach, Rick Byrd, was named OVC Coach of the Year. The awards were voted on by league head coaches and communications directors.

Morant has put together one of the top statistical seasons in OVC history and has garnered national attention for his play-making ability and athleticism. A projected top five NBA pick, Morant enters this week ranked first nationally in assists (10.3/game), which is 2.5 assists/game more than second place. He is also eighth nationally in scoring (24.1 points/game), fifth in double-doubles (19) and one of two players to have multiple triple-doubles in 2018-19. The sophomore is on pace to become the first player since the NCAA began tracking assists in 1983-84 to average 20-plus points and 10-plus assists in a single season. Morant has 14 games this year with 20-plus points and 10-plus assists; no other player nationally has three such games. He smashed the OVC single-season assists record and enters this week with 300 assists, just the 16th time in NCAA Division I history a player has reached that level; with 10 more assists he will enter the NCAA’s single-season Top 10. His 18 assists in a game against UT Martin are the most by a Division I player this year and the second-most in OVC single-game history. His 19 double-doubles are just three off the nation’s lead and he is the only player in the top 20 nationally in double-doubles under 6’6″ tall. In January Morant became the first Division I player in 20 years to record 40 points, 11 assists and five steals in a regulation game. In that contest he hit 21-of-21 free throws, establishing a new OVC single-game record (just three off the NCAA mark); he was the first Division I player with 21 or more made free throws in a game without a miss in the past 20 years. All of these accolades has made him a candidate for all the major awards including the Wooden Award, Naismith Award, Oscar Robertson Trophy and the Lute Olson Award each given to the National Player of the Year and the Bob Cousy Award, given to the nation’s top point guard. Morant is the second-straight and 15th Murray State player to take home the Player of the Year honor.