Southland Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year

The Southland Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year is an award given to the Southland Conference's (SLC) most outstanding player. The award was first given following the conference's inaugural basketball season of 1963–64. Five players have won the award two times: Jerry Rook, Larry Jeffries, Andrew Toney, Ryan Stuart and Thomas Walkup. No player has ever won three times. McNeese has the most all-time winners with nine. Among current SLC members, four have never had a winner: Houston Christian and Incarnate Word, both of which joined in 2013; Texas A&M–Commerce, which joined in 2022; and UTRGV, which plays its first SLC season in 2024–25.

Southland Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year

Awarded for	the most outstanding basketball player in the Southland Conference
Country	United States
History
First award	1964
Most recent	Shahada Wells, McNeese

Key

†	Co-Players of the Year
*	Awarded a national player of the year award: Helms Foundation College Basketball Player of the Year (1904–05 to 1978–79) UPI College Basketball Player of the Year (1954–55 to 1995–96) Naismith College Player of the Year (1968–69 to present) John R. Wooden Award (1976–77 to present)
Player (X)	Denotes the number of times the player has been awarded the Southland Player of the Year award at that point

Winners

Jerry Rook, Arkansas State, 1964 and 1965

Bo Lamar, Louisiana, 1972

Andrew Toney, Louisiana, 1978 and 1980

Karl Malone, Louisiana Tech, 1983

Joe Dumars, McNeese, 1985

Donte Mathis, Texas State, 1999

Demond Mallet, McNeese, 2001

MarQuez Haynes, UT Arlington, 2010

Patrick Richard, McNeese, 2012

Taylor Smith, Stephen F. Austin, 2013

Thomas Walkup, Stephen F. Austin, 2015 and 2016

Jordan Howard, Central Arkansas, 2018

Season	Player	School	Position	Class	Reference
1963–64	Jerry Rook	Arkansas State	F	Junior	[1]
1964–65	Jerry Rook (2)	Arkansas State	F	Senior	[2]
1965–66	John Dickson	Arkansas State	C	Senior	[3]
1966–67	Larry Jeffries	Trinity	F	Sophomore	[4]
1967–68	John Ray Godfrey	Abilene Christian	G	Senior	[5]
1968–69	Larry Jeffries (2)	Trinity	F	Senior	[6]
1969–70	Kenny Haynes	Lamar	G	Senior	[7]
1970–71†	Luke Adams	Lamar	F	Senior	[8]
	Allan Pruett	Arkansas State	G	Senior	[8]
1971–72	Bo Lamar	Louisiana	SG	Junior	[9]
1972–73	Mike Green	Louisiana Tech	C	Senior	[10]
1973–74	Steve Brooks	Arkansas State	C	Senior	[11]
1974–75	Henry Ray	McNeese	F	Sophomore	[12]
1975–76	Mike McConathy	Louisiana Tech	SG	Junior	[13]
1976–77	Dan Henderson	Arkansas State	C	Senior	[14]
1977–78	Andrew Toney	Louisiana	G	Sophomore	[1]
1978–79	David Lawrence	McNeese	PF	Junior	[1]
1979–80	Andrew Toney (2)	Louisiana	G	Senior	[1]
1980–81	Mike Olliver	Lamar	PG	Senior	[15]
1981–82	Albert Culton	UT Arlington	SF	Senior	[16]
1982–83	Karl Malone	Louisiana Tech	PF	Freshman	[17]
1983–84	Tom Sewell	Lamar	SG	Junior	[18]
1984–85	Joe Dumars	McNeese	PG / SG	Senior	[19]
1985–86	Bobby Jenkins	Louisiana–Monroe	F	Senior	[20]
1986–87	Jerome Batiste	McNeese	F	Senior	[21]
1987–88	Tony Worrell	North Texas	F	Senior	[22]
1988–89	Deon Hunter	North Texas	PG	Senior	[23]
1989–90	Anthony Pullard	McNeese	C	Senior	[24]
1990–91†	Carlos Funchess	Louisiana–Monroe	PG / SG	Senior	[25]
	Anthony Jones	Louisiana–Monroe	F	Senior	[25]
1991–92	Ryan Stuart	Louisiana–Monroe	SF	Junior	[26]
1992–93	Ryan Stuart (2)	Louisiana–Monroe	SF	Senior	[27]
1993–94	Eric Kubel	Northwestern State	C	Senior	[28]
1994–95	Reggie Jackson	Nicholls	SG	Senior	[29]
1995–96	Paul Marshall	Louisiana–Monroe	SG	Junior	[30]
1996–97	Rosell Ellis	McNeese	F	Senior	[31]
1997–98	Roderic Hall	UTSA	G	Sophomore	[32]
1998–99	Donte Mathis	Texas State	PG	Senior	[33]
1999–00	Mike Smith	Louisiana–Monroe	PF	Senior	[34]
2000–01	Demond Mallet	McNeese	PG	Senior	[35]
2001–02	McEverett Powers	UTSA	PF	Senior	[36]
2002–03	Donald Cole	Sam Houston State	SF	Sophomore	[37]
2003–04	LeRoy Hurd	UTSA	SF	Senior	[38]
2004–05	Joe Thompson	Sam Houston State	SF / SG	Sophomore	[39]
2005–06	Ricky Woods	Southeastern Louisiana	F	Junior	[40]
2006–07	Chris Daniels	Texas A&M–Corpus Christi	C	Junior	[41]
2007–08	Josh Alexander	Stephen F. Austin	SF	Junior	[42]
2008–09	Matt Kingsley	Stephen F. Austin	C	Senior	[43]
2009–10	MarQuez Haynes	UT Arlington	G	Senior	[44]
2010–11	Gilberto Clavell	Sam Houston State	SF	Senior	[45]
2011–12	Patrick Richard	McNeese	SG / SF	Senior	[46]
2012–13	Taylor Smith	Stephen F. Austin	PF	Senior	[47]
2013–14	Jacob Parker	Stephen F. Austin	PF	Junior	[48]
2014–15	Thomas Walkup	Stephen F. Austin	SG / SF	Junior	[49]
2015–16	Thomas Walkup (2)	Stephen F. Austin	SG / SF	Senior	[49]
2016–17	Erik Thomas	New Orleans	PF	Senior	[50]
2017–18	Jordan Howard	Central Arkansas	SG	Senior	[51]
2018–19	Cameron Delaney	Sam Houston State	SG	Senior	[52]
2019–20	Kevon Harris	Stephen F. Austin	SG	Senior	[53]
2020–21	Zach Nutall	Sam Houston State	SG	Junior	[54]
2021–22	Ty Gordon	Nicholls	PG	Graduate	[55]
2022–23	DeMarcus Sharp	Northwestern State	PG	Senior	[56]
2023–24	Shahada Wells	McNeese	SG	Graduate	[57]

Winners by school

School (year joined)	Winners	Years
McNeese (1972)	9	1975, 1979, 1985, 1987, 1990, 1997, 2001, 2012, 2024
Louisiana–Monroe[a]	7	1986, 1991 (×2)†, 1992, 1993, 1996, 2000
Stephen F. Austin (1987/2024)[b]	7	2008, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2020
Arkansas State (1963)[c]	6	1964, 1965, 1966, 1971†, 1974, 1977
Sam Houston State (1987)[b]	5	2003, 2005, 2011, 2019, 2021
Lamar (1963/1999/2022)[d]	4	1970, 1971†, 1981, 1984
Louisiana Tech[e]	3	1973, 1976, 1983
Louisiana[f]	3	1972, 1978, 1980
UTSA (1991)[g]	3	1998, 2002, 2004
Nicholls (1991)	2	1995, 2022
North Texas[h]	2	1988, 1989
Northwestern State (1987)	2	1994, 2023
Trinity (1963)[i]	2	1967, 1969
UT Arlington (1963)[j]	2	1982, 2010
Abilene Christian (1963/2013)[k]	1	1968
Central Arkansas (2006)[b]	1	2018
New Orleans (2013)	1	2017
Southeastern Louisiana (1997)	1	2006
Texas A&M–Corpus Christi (2006)	1	2007
Texas State (1987)[j]	1	1999
Houston Christian (2013)[l]	0	—
Incarnate Word (2013)	0	—
Oral Roberts (2012)[m]	0	—
Texas A&M–Commerce (2022)	0	—
UT Rio Grande Valley (2024)	0	—

1. The University of Louisiana at Monroe left in 2005 to join its football team in the Sun Belt Conference.
2. Five schools left the conference in 2021. In addition to Abilene Christian and Lamar, which left for the second time, the University of Central Arkansas joined the Atlantic Sun Conference, and Sam Houston State University and Stephen F. Austin State University joined the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). Lamar returned to the SLC in 2022, and Stephen F. Austin returned in 2024.
3. Arkansas State University left to form the American South Conference in 1987. The Red Wolves are now in the Sun Belt Conference.
4. Lamar University left in 1987 to form the American South Conference, later competing in the Sun Belt Conference and as an independent before returning to the Southland in 1999. Lamar left again in 2021, this time for the WAC, but rejoined the SLC the next year.
5. Louisiana Tech University left in 1987 to form the American South Conference. The Bulldogs (and Lady Techsters) are now in Conference USA (CUSA).
6. The University of Louisiana at Lafayette (ULL), then known as Southwestern Louisiana, left in 1982 to become an independent. ULL is now in the Sun Belt Conference, and brands its athletic program solely as "Louisiana".
7. The University of Texas at San Antonio left in 2012 to join the WAC. The Roadrunners spent only one season in the WAC before joining CUSA, and have since joined the American Athletic Conference.
8. The University of North Texas left to join the Big West Conference in 1996. The Mean Green moved from there to CUSA and then The American.
9. Trinity College (now Trinity University) was a founding member in 1963, but departed in 1971. The Tigers are now in the Division III Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference.
10. The University of Texas at Arlington (now athletically branded as "UT Arlington") and Texas State University (then officially known as Texas State University–San Marcos) left in 2012 to join the WAC. Both schools spent only one season in the WAC before joining the Sun Belt Conference; UT Arlington rejoined the WAC in 2022.
11. Abilene Christian College was also a founding member, but departed in 1973. After 40 years in Division II Lone Star Conference, Abilene Christian (now a "University") returned to Division I and the Southland Conference in 2013 before leaving again in 2021, this time for the WAC.
12. Known as Houston Baptist University until September 21, 2022.
13. Oral Roberts University left the Southland Conference in 2014, returning to its previous home of The Summit League.

References

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