SLU junior Marlain Veal named Southland Defensive Player of the Year

FRISCO, Texas – Junior guard Marlain Veal and senior forward Jordan Capps paced the Southeastern Louisiana offense in 2017-18, combining to average 26.3 points per game in helping lead the Lions to a share of the Southland Conference title and the top seed in the league tournament.

Veal and Capps were recognized for their accomplishments on Monday by being named to the 2017-18 All-Southland Conference Men’s Basketball Team in a vote by the league’s coaches and sports information staffs.

Veal became the first Southeastern player to be named first-team All-Southland since Brandon Fortenberry in 2012-13. He also became the first Lion to be selected as the Southland Defensive Player of the Year and the first to receive one of the league’s superlative awards since Ricky Woods was named the Player of the Year in 2005-06. He was voted all-conference for the second time in his career after earning third team honors in 2016-17.

Capps was selected to the second team, the first Southeastern player to earn that distinction since Patrick Sullivan in 2009-10. Veal and Capps also became the first pair of Lions to be named all-conference in the same season since Zay Jackson and DeVonte Upson were honorable mention picks in 2014-15.

Southeastern (21-10, 15-3 Southland) received a double-bye in the semifinals of the Southland Conference Tournament and will play an opponent to be determined Friday at 5 p.m. at the Merrell Center in Katy, Texas.

“As our program continues to grow, we are excited about more of our players receiving recognition for their outstanding play,” Southeastern head coach Jay Ladner said. “Both are very deserving and also are very humble and both realize their teammates also share in these awards. We are very proud of them and their impact on our team’s accomplishments.”

Veal, who was named the Southland Conference Player of the Week for the second time this season on Sunday, led the conference with 6.1 assists per game during the regular season while ranking fourth with a 1.8 assist/turnover ratio. His 190 assists were a Southeastern record, breaking the old mark of 188 set by Leo McClure in 1976-77. He had a conference-high five double-digit assist games and his 12 assists at UIW were the most in a Southland game in 2017-18. He also averaged 12.6 points and 5.3 rebounds, both second-best on the team, and had three double-doubles on the season.

On the defensive end, Veal helped the Lions finish first in the Southland in scoring defense (65.7 ppg) and third in field goal percentage defense (.420). He nabbed 2.1 steals per game, ranking second in the league. His 2.2 steals in Southland games led the conference. His 64 steals are the second-most in program history while his six steals against Northwestern State were the second-most in a conference game this season. He also pulled down 135 defensive rebounds in 2017-18.

Capps bounced back from an injury that cost him all but two games in 2016-17 to lead Southeastern with 13.7 points per game, 14^th-best in the conference. He is also seventh in the league in field goal percentage (.536) and 14^th in blocked shots (1.0 bpg). He averaged 14.1 ppg with a .537 field goal percentage in league games. He had 31 points against Houston Baptist, becoming the first Lion to score 30 points in a game in three seasons. He also averaged 4.3 rebounds with 16 assists and 15 steals.

Central Arkansas senior guard Jordan Howard was selected as the Southland Player of the Year. Houston Baptist forward David Caraher was voted the Freshman of the Year while Nicholls senior guard Roddy Peters received Newcomer of the Year honors. Richie Riley of Nicholls was named the Coach of the Year.

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Southland Conference Tournament Ticket Information

The Southeastern Louisiana Athletics Ticket Office encourages all Lion and Lady Lion fans to purchase tickets for the Southland Conference Basketball Tournament on March 7-11 at the Merrell Center in Katy, Texas through the SLU Ticket Office.

Southeastern is selling all-tournament books that includes tickets for all eight sessions of the tournament for $70. Single-session tickets are on sale for $20. Tickets can be picked up at the Southeastern Athletics Ticket Office, which is open Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Friday from 8 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. The ticket office number is (985) 549-5466.

SLU fans who purchase tickets on game day at the Merrell Center are encouraged to visit the Southeastern Athletics window at the tournament site.