FRISCO, Texas – B.J. Stith (Lawrenceville, Va.) of the Old Dominion men’s basketball team was named the 2019 Conference USA Player of the Year on Wednesday morning, as voted on by league head coaches and media personnel. Stith becomes the first Monarch since Alex Loughton in 2005 to earn conference Player of the Year honors. Stith also becomes just the seventh Monarch ever to earn such an award and first ever within the C-USA.
Stith’s nine double-doubles this season rank third in the conference, while his 6.1 defensive rebounds per contest also rank third in the league. For the season, he is averaging 7.4 rebounds per game (leads team), which ranks sixth in the C-USA. He also ranks sixth in Conference USA for connecting on 83.6% from the free-throw line. Stith is averaging 17.3 points per game, which leads the squad and ranks eighth in the league. His 34.2 minutes played per contest rank 10th in the conference.
Stith has scored double-figures in 26 of 31 games, while scoring 20 or more points in 12 of those contests. He ranks 12th in Conference USA for 2.2 three-pointers made per outing and ranks 13th for his 37.4% three-point field-goal percentage. The redshirt senior co-captain has also started every game for Old Dominion this season. He was an All-Conference USA Third Team selection a year ago.
Earlier this season, Stith was named the C-USA Player of the Week three consecutives times, marking only the second time in league history this feat had been accomplished. His 1,326 points (doesn’t include the 13 he scored at UVA) rank 27th in school history.
ODU PLAYER OF THE YEAR HONORS
Ronnie Valentine 1980.........ECAC South
Kenny Gattison 1986.........Sun Belt
Chris Gatling 1990.........Sun Belt
Chris Gatling 1991.........Sun Belt
Odell Hodge 1994.........CAA
Petey Sessoms 1995.........CAA
Odell Hodge 1997.........CAA
Alex Loughton 2005.........CAA
B.J. Stith 2019..…..C-USA