IUN'S Williams Headlines 2024-25 Men's Basketball Honor Roll
CHICAGO --- In a season filled with many close contests amongst all 12 Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference teams, it was no surprise that the postseason honor roll took on a similar look when the league office announced the list on Monday morning. No team gained more than five awards with 11 of the 12 schools having at least two selections.
Indiana University South Bend edged out three other teams for the top spot with five awards, with Saint Xavier University and regular-season champions Indiana University Northwest and University of St. Francis all coming in with four picks. St. Francis also claimed the CCAC Tournament title on Saturday night.
Those same four schools also produced three all-conference selections with Indiana University Northwest being the only one to have a pair of first-team picks. Calumet College of St. Joseph led in second-team choices with two, while Holy Cross College topped the honorable-mention list with a pair.
Earning three overall awards each were Judson University, Viterbo University, Holy Cross and Olivet Nazarene University. Claiming two awards each were Governors State University, Calumet St. Joseph and St. Ambrose. Trinity Christian College was represented by one player.
There was also balance with both the top five individual honors as well as the five-member all-freshman team with no club gaining more than one award.
Topping the list of individual award winners was Indiana Northwest's Trace Williams (Flossmoor, Ill.), who was recognized as the CCAC Player of the Year. The senior guard led the league in two categories and was in the top three in two more.
Williams boasts the most field goals (219) and assists (150), while ranking second in steals (56) and third in scoring (19.6 ppg). He is also seventh in both free throws made (107) and field goal percentage (.572) and 11th in rebounding (6.0 rpg).
On the national level, Williams ranks 11th in assists. A second-team all-conference selection one year ago, he was named to the first team this time around.
Williams was joined on the first team by St. Francis' Aitor Anabitarte (Lasarte-Oria, Spain), Saint Xavier's Jordan Jackson (Grand Rapids, Mich.), Indiana South Bend's Nick Mullen (Chesterton, Ind.) and teammate Dannie Smith (Chicago, Ill.). The latter was the only repeat choice.
Mullen's second honor came when he was named the CCAC Defensive Player of the Year after leading the conference in blocks (68) and ranking tied for fourth nationally. In all, the junior forward placed in the league's top ten in five categories, while also averaging 13.9 points per game.
Besides his top billing in blocks, Mullen is also first in field goal percentage (.641), third in rebounds per game (8.3), sixth in three-point accuracy (.434) and tenth in field goals (152).
Jackson also came away with a pair of honors, recognized as the CCAC Newcomer of the Year besides his first-team all-conference status. The senior guard is the ninth-best scorer in the league (16.0) and places 11th in both steals (36) and blocks (21). He also averaged 2.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game, while shooting .486 from the field and .375 on three-point attempts.
Judson's George Bellevue (Chicago, Ill.) was the third player to receive dual honors, making the all-freshman team and serving as the league's Freshman of the Year. The forward is the league's tenth-best scorer (15.9 ppg) courtesy of the fifth-most field goals (189), the eighth-best field goal percentage (.561) and the 12th-best free-throw percentage (.781). He also averaged 6.0 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game.
Rounding out the list of individual award winners was St. Francis head coach Ryan Marks, who led his squad to both the tournament championship and a share of the regular-season crown. He also has the Fighting Saints at 25-5 overall heading into the NAIA National Tournament Opening Round.
On the team front, Viterbo was recognized with the CCAC Champions of Character Team award.
A total of 36 awards were presented in all, including the five first-team all-conference selections and ten members being named to both the second team and as honorable mention selections.
For the complete list of award winners, go to Awards.