All-WAC teams announced
It hasn’t been done since former Aggie great Nate Harris did it in the Big West during the 2003-04 season. Guard Preston Medlin earned first-team all-Western Athletic Conference honors as a sophomore when the league announced the awards Sunday.
Senior guard Brockeith Pane earned honorable mention honors, and junior forward Kyisean Reed earned WAC all-newcomer team honors.
With Medlin’s honor, Utah State has now had 21 first-team all-conference selections over the past 13 seasons. For USU, this is the 13th straight year it has had at least one first-team all-league selection. Overall, Utah State has had nine first-team all-WAC players in its seven years in the league.
“I thought it was awesome that Preston Medlin, as a sophomore, was named first-team all-league,” USU head coach Stew Morrill said. “I think he definitely deserved it. You look at his shooting percentages and his points per game and all the things that he did for us, he had a great sophomore year.”
Medlin averaged 16.6 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game and shot 50.0 percent from the field, 43.5 percent from 3-point range and 79.5 percent at the free-throw line.
He currently ranks first in the WAC in 3-point shooting, third in scoring, seventh in free-throw shooting, ninth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.64), 10th in assists and 10th in overall shooting. Overall, Medlin has scored in double figures a team-leading 26 times this year, including in each of his past 14 games.
Pane averaged 12.4 points and 3.97 assists and shot 40.8 percent from the field, 30.3 percent from 3-point range and 80 percent at the free-throw line.
He currently ranks fifth in the WAC in free-throw shooting, seventh in assists and 10th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.40). Pane has scored in double figures 22 times this year to rank second on the team behind Medlin (26).
For Pane, this is the second straight year he has been honored by the WAC, as he was named to the league’s first team as a junior.
Reed averaged 9.8 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.10 blocks per game and shot 61.7 percent from the field and 63.6 percent at the free-throw line. He currently ranks first in the WAC in field-goal shooting, sixth in blocked shots and 13th in rebounding.
“The nature of it is that you always hope coaches will vote as many of your guys as possible,” Morrill said. “We had three guys recognized, and we’re appreciative of that. Brockeith (Pane) as an honorable mention and Kyisean (Reed) as a newcomer, all of that is a positive for those guys and certainly for our team.”
Nevada’s Deonte Burton was named the WAC Player of the Year, and Louisiana Tech’s Raheem Appleby was named the Freshman of the Year. Nevada’s David Carter earned the WAC Coach of the Year.
– ty.d.hus@aggiemail.usu.edu