Radford University’s Carlik Jones (left) and Ed Polite were honored by the Big South Conference. Jones was named freshman of the year and Polite was first team Big South.
After beating all expectations and helping the Radford men’s basketball team to the No. 2 seed in the Big South Championship, junior forward Ed Polite Jr. was named First Team All-Big South, while redshirt freshman guard Carlik Jones was tabbed Big South Freshman of the Year in addition to being placed on the All-Freshman team and Honorable Mention All-Conference list.
Junior guard Caleb Tanner was also honored on Monday, being named to the Big South All-Academic team.
Polite Jr., has done it all for the Highlanders during the 2017-18 season, leading the team in points (13.6), rebounds (7.9), steals (1.9) and minutes played (31.7) per game. He also set career-highs for field goals (151), 3-point field goals (22) and free throw percentage (72.8%) all while being called for a career-low 71 fouls.
The Lanham, Md., native made history several times over the season. First, he became the fifth player in program history to record 500 career rebounds and 100 career blocks. Polite, Jr., later became the third player in program history, as well as the ninth player in Big South history, to reach 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 100 assists, 100 blocks and 100 steals in his career.
He is the 15th different player in Radford history to be named to the All-Big South First Team and the first since Javonte Green earned the distinction in 2014-15.
Jones put in the work during his redshirt season last year to come into the 2017-18 campaign ready to contribute right out of the gate. He provided 15 points on 5 of 9 (55.6%) shooting and four rebounds in his collegiate debut and followed that up with a 19-point game on 6 of 8 shooting (75.0%) to go along with four 3-pointers and three assists at Ohio State.
Those performances led to his first career Big South Freshman of the Week award. He ultimately earned seven of them, breaking the Radford program record and tying the Big South record. The Cincinnati, Ohio native ended the regular season averaging 11.5 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.0 steals per game.
Jones becomes the third Highlander ever to be named Rookie/Freshman of the Year, joining Anthony Walker (1993-94) and Whit Holcomb-Faye (2002-03). He’s the first Radford player to be named to the All-Freshman team since Polite Jr. made an appearance on the list in 2015-16.
From nearby Floyd, Tanner has earned a 3.2 grade point average as a Sport Administration major.
Coming off the bench to add a scoring punch in all 31 regular season games, he has averaged 6.9 points while leading the squad with 58 3-pointers. Only one of 29 free throw attempts by Tanner have missed the mark this season.
The trio played a major part in helping Radford earn the No. 2 seed in the 2018 Big South Men’s Basketball Championship to be held in Asheville, N.C., between Feb. 27 and March 4. The second-place finish in the regular season is the program’s best finish since the 2009-10 season when they also finished second.
2017-18 MEN’S BASKETBALL ALL-CONFERENCE
First-Team All-Conference
Xavier Cooks, F, Sr., Winthrop
Chris Clemons, G, Jr., Campbell
Ahmad Thomas, G, Sr., UNC Asheville
Ed Polite Jr., F, Jr., Radford
MaCio Teague, G, Soph., UNC Asheville
Second-Team All-Conference
Christian Keeling, G, Soph., Charleston Southern
David Efianayi, G, R-Jr., Gardner-Webb
Scottie James, F, R-Soph., Liberty
Andre Fox, G, Jr., High Point
Jahaad Proctor, G, Soph., High Point
Honorable Mention All-Conference
Reggie Dillard, G, R-Sr., Presbyterian College
Liam O’Reilly, G, Sr., Gardner-Webb
Marcus Burk, G, Soph., Campbell
Carlik Jones, G, R-Fr., Radford
Bjorn Broman, G, Jr., Winthrop
All-Freshman Team
Carlik Jones, G, R-Fr., Radford
Phlandrous Fleming Jr., G, Fr., Charleston Southern
Jaheam Cornwall, G, Fr., Gardner-Webb
Elijah Cuffee, G, Fr., Liberty
Justyn Mutts, F, Fr., High Point
All-Academic Team
Cory Gensler, G, Soph., Campbell
Christian Keeling, G, Soph., Charleston Southern
Patrick Zeck, F, Soph., Gardner-Webb
Jahaad Proctor, G, Soph., High Point
Ryan Kemrite, G, R-Sr., Liberty
Dominic Ezeani, G, Soph., Longwood
JC Younger, G, Soph., Presbyterian College
Caleb Tanner, G, Jr., Radford
Kevin Vannatta, G, Sr., UNC Asheville
Anders Broman, G, R-Sr., Winthrop
Player of the Year
Xavier Cooks, F, Sr., Winthrop
Freshman of the Year
Carlik Jones, G, R-Fr., Radford
Defensive Player of the Year
Ahmad Thomas, G, Sr., UNC Asheville
Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Kevin Vannatta, G, Sr., UNC Asheville
–RU Athletics
