IRVING, Texas – Old Dominion’s Trey Freeman headlines this year’s Conference USA All Academic Team for the second consecutive year. The Marshall duo of Jon Elmore and Austin Loop, UAB’s Nick Norton and Dominic Artis of UTEP were also honored for their achievements in the classroom and on the court with their selection to the 2016 Conference USA Men’s Basketball All-Academic Team. All five hold a minimum 3.25 GPA and are starters on their respective teams.
Freeman and Loop are the only repeat honorees from a year ago. Freeman enters the final game of the regular season as the league’s leading scorer, averaging 21.1 ppg on the season (ranks No. 16 in the country) and 24.9 ppg against conference foes. He has netted two of C-USA’s top four scoring performances on the season with a career-high 38 against Charlotte and 37 against Marshall. Freeman has also tallied at least 20 points 19 times this season. He became the first men’s basketball player in C-USA history to claim Player of the Week honors three weeks in a row.
Freeman scored his 2,000th career point at Western Kentucky on Feb. 18. The senior captain from Virginia Beach, Va ranks No 17 in Division I and No. 1 in the C-USA for total points (636). Freeman ranks No. 4 in the country for made field goals with 247. He has scored 21 or more points in 13 of the last 16 games, 24 or more points in 10 of the last 14 contests and has been the game’s leading scorer in 13 of the past 15 games. Freeman has reached double figures in all but one game this season.
Freeman graduated with a bachelor of science degree with an emphasis in public relations in December of 2014 and is expected to graduate with a master’s of science in sport management in May of 2016. He is a Dean’s List recipient, C-USA Commissioner’s Honor Roll honoree and was named to the Conference USA All Academic Team a year ago, while garnering C-USA Newcomer of the Year.
Below is a complete list of the honorees, who will be competing in Saturday’s men’s basketball regular-season finales before heading to Birmingham, Alabama, for the 2016 C-USA Men’s Basketball Championship March 8-12.
2016 C-USA MEN’S BASKETBALL ALL-ACADEMIC TEAM
NAME - SCHOOL - YEAR - GPA - MAJOR
Jon Elmore - Marshall - Sophomore - 3.60 - Public Communications (Management)
Austin Loop - Marshall - Junior - 3.63 - Biomechanics/Clinical Exercise/Psychology
Trey Freeman - Old Dominion - Grad - 3.28 - Sport Management
Nick Norton - UAB - Sophomore - 3.68 - Finance
Dominic Artis - UTEP - Junior - 3.57 - Multidisciplinary Studies