By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications
SALEM, Ore. -- The Willamette University men's basketball team has qualified for the Team Academic Excellence Award from the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) for the 2020-21 season. The Bearcats received the honor for the seventh year in a row.
This year, 263 college teams from all three NCAA divisions, both NAIA divisions and the NJCAA qualified for the award. Willamette, and Pacific Lutheran University, and Whitworth University were the only Northwest Conference teams to qualify. Willamette is the only NWC team that has received the award for seven consecutive years.
"Our guys demand commitment and results from each other in the classroom," Willamette Head Men's Basketball Coach Kip Ioane said. "When your team EXPECTS that from each other, you end up with honors like this for seven straight years. I'm proud of our group."
To qualify for the Team Academic Excellence Award the cumulative grade point average for a team had to be at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale. Each team's GPA included all players who were on the roster during the 2020-21 season.
Top scorers for the Bearcats this season were Jack Boydell (So., F, Sonoma, CA/Sonoma Valley HS), Daniel Plumer (So., PG, North Las Vegas, NV/Democracy Preparatory Academy), and Joshua Perez (So., W, Los Angeles, CA/John Marshall HS). Boydell averaged 19.8 points per game, while Plumer contributed 17.5 points per contest, and Perez achieved 15.3 points per game. The Bearcats played a limited four-game schedule due to COVID-19.
Note: Academic year listed for each player is for the 2020-21 season.