Marty Gordon
NRVsports@mainstreetnewspapers.com
Radford University entered last week’s Big South Tournament in Johnson City, Tennessee as the number three seed.
Four RU players were honored by the conference as Dennis Parker Jr. and Del Jones were named second-team all-conference, while Fredrik Erichsen is on all-freshman squad. In addition, Brennan Rigsby Jr. was named to the Big South all-academic team.
Parker Jr. earns second-team honors as one of the Big South’s leading scorers this season with 18.6 ppg and one of just two players averaging over 18 points and six rebounds a game in the conference. His 576 points are the sixth-most in a single season in program history thanks in part to scoring a Radford/Big South record and NCAA single-game high this season 53 points against Coppin State.
Over the course of the season, he collected one Big South Player of the Week and USBWA National Player of the Week nods. Parker Jr.’s shooting percentage ranks top 150 nationally and top four in the Big South.
Jones was the heartbeat of Radford’s offense this season and earns second-team honors. In his first full collegiate season, Jones averaged 17.1 ppg and 3.5 apg while leading Radford in minutes played. He was one of just six players in the Big South with 100 assists this season.
Against Big South foes, his 19.4 ppg ranked fourth best. Throughout the season, he earned one Big South Player of the Week award and had a streak of seven straight games with 20+ points in conference play. Jones is one of the nation’s best free throw shooters ranking top 100 with multiple conference games of perfect 10-10 marks from the charity stripe.
Among an experienced lineup, Erichsen made an immediate impact for the Highlanders and earns all-freshman honors. He averaged the sixth-most points on the team with 5.8 per game including a 49% overall shooting mark and 74% from the free throw line while scoring in double figures four times.
Among Big South freshman, Erichsen ranked third for points, second in overall shooting, fourth for rebounds and sixth in minutes per game. He earned Big South Freshman of the Week awards twice, both during weeks of conference play.
Rigsby Jr. rounds out Radford’s end-of-season awards with his selection to the Big South’s all-academic team. He capped his collegiate career with a 3.32 GPA as an interdisciplinary studies major and was a vital leader on the court.
With the Highlanders Rigsby Jr. was a consistent threat off the bench and stepped up into a starting role over the final two weeks scoring in double figures in all three of his starts.
Winthrop’s Logan Duncomb has been voted the 2025-26 Big South Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Year by the league’s head coaches.
The panel voted Gardner-Webb’s Spence Sims the Freshman of the Year, Presbyterian’s Jaylen Peterson the Defensive Player of the Year, and High Point’s Rob Martin was selected as the Newcomer of the Year. High Point’s Flynn Clayman and Winthrop’s Mark Prosser shared the Coach of the Year award, while Winthrop’s Kody Clouet was voted Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the league’s Men’s Basketball Communications Directors.
Duncomb is Winthrop’s first Big South Player of the Year honoree since 2021-22 (D.J. Burns Jr.) and the seventh different Eagle to receive the conference’s top award. Duncomb finished the regular-season fourth in the league in scoring (18.4 points), second in rebounding (9.0) and first in field goal percentage (59.2), free throws made (175) and free throw attempts (275), in addition to ranking second with 12 double-doubles.
