SHAWNEE, Okla.—The 2022-23 season has been a sensational one for Southern Nazarene, who won the Great American Conference by an astounding six games. With such a dominant season, it is no doubt the Crimson Storm hauled in the GAC awards as they won all eligible awards.
Tyler McGhie, Nick Davis, and Javon Jackson all earned individual "of-the-year" awards, and were also named to the All-GAC teams. McGhie was named the Great American Conference Player of the Year, Davis was named the Defensive Player of the Year, and Jackson was named Freshman of the Year. Adding on to these awards, head coach Adam Bohac was named the Coach of the Year.
McGhie, the conference's only unanimous First-Team All-GAC selection, was named Player of the Year during his sophomore campaign after pouring in 17.3 points per game. He ranked third in the GAC in that category. He shot just under 50% from the field at 49.7% for the season, including a GAC-leading 46.3% from deep. He was also second in the conference in free-throw percentage at 87.5%. This is McGhie's second straight First-Team All-GAC selection. It is the third time overall that an SNU Men's Basketball player was named Player of the Year. Jhonathan Dunn won it in both 2018 and 2020.
Jackson, a freshman out of Houston, Texas, took very little time adjusting to the college game. He made his way into the SNU starting lineup in December and never looked back. He averaged 15.3 points and 2.6 assists per game on his way to being named the GAC Freshman of the Year, as well as being named to the All-GAC First-Team. He joins McGhie, who became the first to accomplish this feat last season, as the only SNU freshmen to be named to the All-GAC First Team. Jackson is SNU's second Freshman of the Year winner, also joining Jhonathan Dunn, who was named GAC Freshman of the Year in 2017.
Davis, a junior out of Arlington, Texas, was a dominant force in the paint all season for the Crimson Storm. His presence down low helped the Crimson Storm to the number one scoring defense in the conference by nearly 10 full points. Their 57 points allowed per game also ranks second in all of NCAA DII. Davis finished second in the conference with 38 blocks, good for 1.4 blocks per game. He also finished fourth in rebounding at 7.0 rebounds per game. He consistently chipped in on the offensive end, as well, averaging 12.5 points per game on nearly 60% shooting from the floor. Davis becomes SNU's fifth Defensive Player of the Year winner, and first since Micah Speight in 2020.
SNU head coach, Adam Bohac brought his team into the season with a target on their back as the unanimous preseason No. 1 team in the GAC. Despite this target, Bohac led his team to a remarkable 21-1 in-conference record, including a current streak of 15 straight wins, and a regular season championship. The Storm also rank No. 11 in the NABC National Coaches Poll. Earlier this season, Bohac earned his 300th career win at Southern Nazarene, joining Bobby Martin as the only SNU Men's Basketball coaches to ever achieve that mark. This marks Bohac's fourth GAC Coach of the Year award, one for each GAC regular season title the Crimson Storm have won.
The Crimson Storm have no intentions of the accolades stopping here. SNU will turn their attention to the Great American Conference tournament as the No. 1 seed, with hopes of earning an automatic bid into the NCAA Central Region tournament. The Crimson Storm tipoff their tournament run at the Firelake Arena in Shawnee, Oklahoma against the No. 8 seed Ouachita Baptist Tigers. Tipoff is set for 8:00 p.m. With a win, SNU would have Friday off before taking on either East Central or Arkansas Tech in the semifinals on Saturday evening. The GAC Championship game is set for 3:30 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.
Full All-GAC List
