ROCK HILL, S.C. – The triumvirate of John Zhao (Sevierville, Tenn.), Nick Brenegan (Greenville, S.C.) and Jack Browder (Kingsport, Tenn.) has earned All-South Atlantic Conference accolades, the league office announced Monday morning.
Zhao and Brenegan are both second-team all-league, while Browder was recognized as a member of the third team.
This marks the first time in Chuck Benson's tenure as head coach that the Eagles have had three players on the all-conference teams.
Zhao turned in the most efficient effort in the SAC this season. He finished third in the league in scoring at 19.6 points per game while averaging 62.0 percent shooting from the field and 52.7 percent shooting from three. He ranks 10th nationally in efficiency and second in the league, while topping the conference in three-point efficiency. Zhao ranks second in the nation in that regard.
He tallied five weekly honors on the year, two from the league and three from the Tennessee Sportswriters Association. Zhao won honors from the TSWA on Feb. 13, Jan. 29 and Dec. 18.
Over a six-game stretch following a loss to Wingate on Jan. 20, Zhao averaged 27.33 points per game. That camee with some stupefying efficiency. He had a 67.9/61.3/84.4 slash line. He was 27-of-44 from deep in that stretch, an average of 4.5 threes per game.
He had his first-career double-double, with a 23-point, 10-rebound night in the win at Mars Hill on Feb. 9.
Zhao has scored in double digits in 24 games this season with 16, 20-point efforts and five, 30-point games.
He has the most 30-point games in a season by an Eagle since Charles Clarks' six in his SAC Player of the Year campaign in 2016-17.
Brenegan, the nation's leader in threes, earns his first all-conference honor after turning in the best three-point shooting season in school history.
Nick Brenegan's 3.97 made triples per game are the most in the country. He has buried 107 this season, also first nationally among all divisions by pure volume. Brenegan is the first C-N player to hit 100 threes in a season, breaking Ish Sanders' 12-year-old single-season record of 99. Brenegan is the 12th player in South Atlantic Conference history with a 100-three-point season. Brenegan currently sits in ninth in league history. He is two threes away from Newberry's Rob Valentine (2017-18) and eighth place. He also ranks fifth nationally and third in the SAC in percentage at 49.3 percent for the season.
For the year, Brenegan is averaging 18.1 points per game, good for eighth in the conference. He has 23 double-digit scoring efforts this year, nine games where he has crested 20 and two where he's topped 30.
Brenegan was named national player of the week on Jan. 9 following a historic performance against Newberry.
The junior guard torched Newberry for 64 points, canning 18-of-27 threes. He singlehandedly outscored Newberry in the Eagles' 103-51 win.
The 64 points reset the Carson-Newman and South Atlantic Conference single-game scoring record held by the Eagles' Charles Clark since 2017. Clark went for 54 against Coker. It marks just the fifth 60-point night in NCAA Division II since 1975 and the 15th if you include Division I. Overall, Brenegan's night is the 15th-highest scoring night in Division II history.
The bulk of Brenegan's bonkers night came from range. He broke the NCAA Division I and II records for threes made in a game with 18. However, he was stupefyingly efficient, going 18-of-27 from deep. He was 21-of-34 from the field overall and a perfect 4-of-4 at the line.
Brenegan had 21 points at the break before surging for a massive 43-points in the second half. The 43-point second half breaks Clarks' record for points in a half. Clark had 36 in the second half in his record-setting performance against Coker. Taking Brenegan's second half by itself, he would still have the sixth-highest single-game scoring mark. He made 12 of his 15 three-point shots in the second half. The 12 threes would have been the second-most in a single-game in school history.
Included in that stretch was a string of 10 consecutive made triples that tied NCAA Division II mark for consecutive threes made in a game.
With 21 made field goals, Brenegan also breaks Mike Ogan's 50-year-old record for shots made in a game, set in 1974 with 19 against Lincoln Memorial. His 34 shots attempted breaks WA Wright's mark of 32 on Jan, 20, 1968 against Georgia Southern.
His 21 made baskets are the most in league history, tied with Denzail Jones' (Anderson against Newberry on March 3, 2012) league mark.
Browder is the only player in the South Atlantic Conference in the top 10 in both scoring and rebounding. He finished second in the league in rebounding with 8.1 boards per game and sixth in scoring with 18.5 points per game.
Along the way, he collected 10 double doubles. Much like the rest of the Eagles' all-league honorees, Browder has been efficient in his work. He's shot 48.3 percent from the field and 41.0 percent from three while canning 57 triples. He's made a team-best 110 free throws at an 80.3 percent clip.
Browder has scored in double-digits in all but two games this season, and enters the SAC tournament on a career-best 15-game streak scoring 10 or more. He's topped 20 on 14 occasions and is just the third basketball player in the last decade to score 20 or more points in six straight games, which he did from Jan. 10-27.
Browder reset his career high against Anderson on Feb. 17 when he poured in 31.
C-N's all-conference trio will be on display in the SAC tournament Wednesday in Rock Hill against Tusculum. Tipoff between the Eagles and Pioneers is slated for 5 p.m. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network begins at 4:45 with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on Mountain Talk 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live.
