Page 22 • Wednesday, March 5, 2014
www.indianastatesman.com
Jake Odum earns All-MVC First Team honors
Ace Hunt ISU Athletic Media Relations A pair of Sycamores have earned AllMissouri Valley Conference honors as announced today by the league office following a postseason vote of head coaches, sports information directors and a media panel. Jake Odum was named to the All-MVC First Team while Manny Arop was a honorable mention selection. Odum is a first team selection for the second consecutive season. He joins Wichita State’s Cleanthony Early as the only repeat selections on the six-man first team. Odum is just the fourth Sycamore to earn consecutive AllMVC First Team honors, joining a group of Larry Bird (1977-78 & 1978-79), Carl Nicks (1978-79 & 1979-1980) and John Sherman Williams (1984-85 & 1985-86). He has been named All-MVC in each of his four seasons in the program and is just the second Sycamore (John Sherman Williams the other (1983-1986)) to earn all-league honors in four different seasons. “This is a great accomplishment for Jake,” head coach Greg Lansing said. “There have been a lot of Sycamores who
have won a lot of games but there have percent of his free throws to rank tied only been three others that have earned for ninth in the MVC and his 2.4 assistFirst Team All-MVC in back-to-back to-turnover ratio ranks third in the years. I know Jake would conference. He was a trade all of these honors First Team All-MVC for a chance to play in the Preseason selection as “This is a great NCAA Tournament and as a member of The accomplishment for well win this weekend in St. Bob Cousy Award Watch Louis. The name Indiana Jake. There have been List and The Lute Olson State Basketball means a a lot of Sycamores Preseason All-America lot more now than it has who have won a lot of Team. in recent years and Jake Odum is joined by has played a big role in games but there have Wichita State’s Ron that.” only been three others Baker, Cleanthony Early Odum ranks seventh in that have earned First and Fred VanVleet as the ISU all-time scoring well as Evansville’s D.J. chart with 1,511 points Team All-MVC in back- Balentine and Northern to-back years.” and is second in assists Iowa’s Seth Tuttle on the with 586 as well as fourth All-MVC First Team. in steals with 200. Senior guard Manny Head Coach Greg Lansing Arop His 571 career free joined Odum on throws is an Indiana State the list with honorable school record and Odum mention honors. Arop is the only player in MVC history with heads into the conference tournament at least 500 career made free throws and averaging 11.0 points and 4.6 rebounds to 500 career assists. This season, Odum is rank 15th in the league. averaging 13.0 ppg which ranks 13th in He was a Preseason All-MVC the MVC while his 4.6 assists per game Honorable Mention selection who posted average ranks second. He has hit 78.5 17 double digit scoring performances this
season, including a season-best 25 points against IUPUI. “We are really excited for Manny to be named honorable mention allconference,” coach Lansing said. “This has been a great year for him as he started off representing Canada at the World University Games and we are very proud of him for that accomplishment. He has been a very good player for us. Obviously everyone knows he can score, but he doesn’t get enough credit for how hard he works every day and how well he plays on the defensive end.” Others on the All-MVC Honorable Mention list are Drake’s Richard Carter, Loyola’s Milton Doyle, Illinois State’s Daishon Knight and Evansville’s Egidijus Mockevicius. The league’s Specialty Awards will be announced this afternoon at 3 p.m. The Sycamores own the No. 2 seed at this week’s Missouri Valley Conference Tournament and will face the winner of the Bradley/Loyola matchup on Friday at 7:05 p.m. (ET) inside Scottrade Center. The quarterfinal matchup will be televised live on MVC TV as well as ESPN3.