Sharp of Northwestern State is Player of the Year, Lutz of A&M-Corpus Christi is Coach of the Year as All-Southland Conference Men’s Basketball Teams and special honors revealed

FRISCO, Texas – Northwestern State’s DeMarcus Sharp has been selected as the 2022-23 Southland Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Year, as the all-conference teams and special award winners were announced Friday.

Sharp is the first Demon to win Southland Player of the Year honors since Eric Kubel in 1994 and the second ever. He is also the winner of the Newcomer of the Year and was named to the All-Defensive Team.

Sharp led the conference in scoring at 18.7 points per game and was second in the conference in with 4.8 assists per game and a 2.0 assist-to-turnover ratio. His 1.9 steals and 0.8 blocks per game both ranked third in the conference and his 34.5 minutes per game led the conference. He had four double-doubles during the season and his 40-point game at A&M-Corpus Christi was the high-point game of the year.

A&M-Corpus Christi head coach Steve Lutz won Coach of the Year honors after leading the Islanders to their first SLC regular season title since 2007. A&M-Corpus Christi went 14-4 in league play and a 21-10 overall record in Lutz’ second year at the helm.

A&M-Corpus Christi’s Terrion Murdix won Defensive Player of the Year honors and Lamar’s Nate Calmese won Freshman of the Year honors.

Murdix led the conference with 2.3 steals per game on the defensive side. He was also the league leader in assists at 5.6 per game, as well as assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.4. He ranked 15th in the conference in scoring at 13.7 points per game.

Calmese ranked third in the conference at 17.6 points per game and fifth in the conference in shooting percentage at .481. He’s Lamar’s first-ever Freshman of the Year.

Joining Sharp on the All-Southland First Team are Murdix and Isaac Mushila from A&M-Corpus Christi, Caleb Huffman from Nicholls and Boogie Anderson from Southeastern.

This is Mushila’s second all-conference selection.

The second team has six players due to a tie in voting and is made up of Trevian Tennyson of A&M-Corpus Christi, Ja’Monta Black of Northwestern State, Demarcus Demonia of A&M-Commerce, Christian Shumate of McNeese, Jordan Johnson of New Orleans and Latrell Jones of Nicholls.

The All-Defensive Team is made up of Murdix, Sharp, Huffman, Bonke Maring of HCU and Pierce Spencer of Nicholls.

The 2023 Jersey Mike’s Southland Conference Men’s Basketball Championship presented by LouisianaTravel.com begins on Sunday, with the championship game on Wednesday. All games will be broadcast on ESPN+, with the first semifinal on ESPNU and the championship game on ESPN2.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR: DeMarcus Sharp, Northwestern State
COACH OF THE YEAR: Steve Lutz, A&M-Corpus Christi
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Terrion Murdix, A&M-Corpus Christi
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: Nate Calmese, Lamar
NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR: DeMarcus Sharp, Northwestern State

FIRST TEAM

SECOND TEAM

ALL-DEFENSIVE TEAM