News

Horizon League: Calhoun named Coach of the Year

Dwayne Cohill was a first team all conference selection

Monday, February 27th 2023, 2:07 PM EST

By Dana Balash

Detroit Mercy graduate student Antoine Davis was named the Horizon League Player of the Year, as the League announced its men’s basketball All-League honors on Monday following the end of the regular season. Brandon Noel of Wright State was selected Freshman of the Year, Milwaukee’s Ahmad Rand earned Defensive Player of the Year and Northern Kentucky’s Trevon Faulkner was named the Sixth Man of the Year. In addition, Youngstown State’s Jerrod Calhoun was selected as the Coach of the Year for the first time. All awards were voted on by the League’s head coaches.

Davis collects his second-straight Player of the Year honor to become the seventh player in Horizon League history to win multiple Player of the Year awards. The HL’s Preseason Player of the Year leads the nation in seven offensive categories including points per game (28.1), total points (870), field goals (282), 3-pointers per game (4.81) and total 3-pointers (149). He has been the HL’s scoring leader in all five seasons he has played. Davis leads the country with four 40-point games this season while also posting 13 30-point performances. His 28.1 points on the year would be a Horizon League record, breaking the 27.6 by Loyola's Alfredrick Hughes in 1983-84 and he set the program’s single-season mark for points and 3-pointers. The graduate student finished #HLMBB play averaging a League-best 30.1 points with 11 30-point games to go along with 3.8 assists, good for fifth in the HL. Earlier this year, he became the Horizon League’s all-time leading scorer, surpassing Hughes with the previous mark of 2,914, and broke the NCAA’s career 3-point record as he currently sits at 578. Davis remains in the hunt for the NCAA’s all-time scoring record as he enters postseason play just 63 points from breaking LSU’s Pete Maravich’s mark of 3,667 points. He is also just the second player in NCAA history to amass 3,000 points and 500 assists. Along with earning Player of the Year, Davis becomes the first player in Horizon League history to be a five-time member of the All-League First Team.

Wright State’s Noel ended the regular season averaging 12.8 points per game and 8.7 rebounds while also garnering four #HLMBB Freshman of the Week honors en route to being named Freshman of the Year. The Lucasville, Ohio native was the only player to average a double-double during League play with 13.4 points and a League-best 10.1 rebounds per contest. Noel also led all players during HL play in field goal percentage at 60.0 to go along with 1.2 blocks per game. During League play, he registered 10 double-digit rebounding games, eight double-doubles and four 20-point outbursts including a 32-point, 12-rebound performance at Green Bay in January. Noel is the first Raider to win the award since Loudon Love in 2018.

Milwaukee’s Rand becomes the first player in program history to be voted Defensive Player of the Year. He led the Horizon League with 65 total blocks, an average of 2.2 per game that ranks him in the top-20 in the country. He was a leader on the defensive side of the ball for a MKE team that finished top-2 overall in the League this season in defensive field goal percentage and defensive 3-point field goal percentage. During Horizon League play, the senior totaled 44 blocks, 13 more than any other HL player, and posted four or more blocks on four different occasions.

Faulkner, a former All-League performer, came off the bench in all but two games for the Norse during League play this season and averaged 10.0 points to earn Sixth Man of the Year. He finished HL play shooting 41.7 percent from the floor and 37.2 percent from 3-point range. He also grabbed 2.7 boards while playing 25.2 minutes per game. The junior recorded 10 double-digit scoring games this Horizon League season, including a season-high 25 points on the road at Milwaukee.

Youngstown State’s Calhoun claims his first Horizon League Coach of the Year award after leading the Penguins to their first regular-season conference championship in program history. Youngstown State finished the regular season with a 23-8 record including a program-best 15 wins in League play to earn the No. 1 overall seed for the upcoming Barbasol Horizon League Men’s Basketball Championship. The ‘Guins have one of the top offenses in the country ranking top-15 in the nation in points per possession (4th - 1.139), points per game (4th – 83.5), field goal percentage (5th - 49.4), free throw percentage (12th - 77.7), and effective field goal percentage (12th – 56.0).

Davis is joined on the All-Horizon League First Team by Cleveland State’s Tristan Enaruna, Jalen Moore of Oakland, Wright State’s Trey Calvin and Dwayne Cohill of Youngstown State. Enaruna led the Vikings 17.4 points and 6.8 rebounds during HL games, including six 20-point performances, while ranking fourth in field goal percentage at 54.3. Moore earns All-League honors for the third time, including his second stint on the first team, after finishing as the second-leading scorer during HL play at 22.6 points per game, finishing second in assists at 5.2 and leading in steals with 2.8. Calvin is a first-team honoree for the first time in his career averaging 21.1 points, third-best in the HL, on 48.4 percent shooting with 3.2 assists and 1.3 steals per game during League play. Cohill jumps up to the All-League First Team after earning third team honors a season ago as he led YSU with 19.1 points on 50.6 percent shooting, a League-high 5.3 assists and 1.3 steals per game, all top-15 rankings during HL play.

The All-Horizon League Second Team is comprised of Milwaukee’s BJ Freeman, Northern Kentucky’s Marques Warrick, Trey Townsend of Oakland, Jarred Godfrey of Purdue Fort Wayne and RMU’s Kahliel Spear. Warrick and Godfrey are now three-time All-League honorees, while Spear makes it to the second team after being a third team selection last season. Freeman and Townsend earn All-League honors for the first time in their careers.

The All-Horizon League Third Team includes Jlynn Counter of IUPUI, Northern Kentucky’s Sam Vinson, Enoch Cheeks of RMU and YSU teammates Adrian Nelson and Brandon Rush.

Noel is joined on the All-Freshman Team by IUPUI teammates Vincent Brandy II and DJ Jackson, Elijah Jamison of Milwaukee and YSU’s John Lovelace Jr. The All-Defensive Team includes MKE’s Rand, CSU’s Deante Johnson and Deshon Parker, Vinson of NKU and Spear of RMU.

The 2023 Barbasol Horizon League Basketball Championships will begin Feb, 28 and March 2 on campus and eight teams – four men and four women – will look to advance to Indianapolis and #REACHtheHORIZON on March 6-7 at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum.

For complete information on the 2023 Barbasol Horizon League Basketball Championships, visit HorizonLeague.com/Indy.

2022-23 #HLMBB All-League Awards

Player of the Year: Antoine Davis, Detroit Mercy

Coach of the Year: Jerrod Calhoun, Youngstown State

Freshman of the Year: Brandon Noel, Wright State

Defensive Player of the Year: Ahmad Rand, Milwaukee
Sixth Player of the Year: Trevon Faulkner, Northern Kentucky

All-League First Team (alphabetical by school)

Tristan Enaruna, Cleveland State
Antoine Davis, Detroit Mercy

Jalen Moore, Oakland
Trey Calvin, Wright State
Dwayne Cohill, Youngstown State

All-League Second Team (alphabetical by school)

BJ Freeman, Milwaukee
Marques Warrick, Northern Kentucky

Trey Townsend, Oakland