ORLANDO – For a second straight year, Carson-Newman's men's basketball program has had multiple players lauded with a spot on the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District team, the organization announced Tuesday afternoon.
Nick Brenegan (Greenville, S.C.), Jack Browder (Kingsport, Tenn.) and John Zhao (Sevierville, Tenn.) were all recognized, with Brenegan and Zhao earning the honor for a second consecutive season.
Brenegan, the nation's leader in threes, earns his second all-district honor after turning in the best three-point shooting season in school history. He also adds it to second-team All-SAC honors.
Nick Brenegan's 3.97 made triples per game are the most in the country. He buried 108 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.
For the year, Brenegan is averaging 17.3 points per game, good for eighth in the conference. He has 24 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 8.2 boards per game and sixth in scoring with 18.4 points per game.
Along the way, he collected 11 double doubles. Much like the rest of the Eagles' honorees, Browder has been efficient in his work. He shot 47.6 percent from the field and 40.0 percent from three while canning 58 triples. He's made a team-best 118 free throws at an 80.3 percent clip.
Browder has scored in double-digits in all but two games this season, and closed the year on a career-best 17-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.
Zhao adds the CSC accolade to his trophy case after being recognized by both the D2CCA and NABC with second-team all-region honors.
Zhao is C-N's first all-region honoree since Charles Clark earned a third all-region honor in 2017-18. Carson-Newman produced an all-region honoree every year from 2013-18. Zhao nets the eighth regional accolade for head coach Chuck Benson. The Sevier County product joins Charles Clark (three times), Antoine Davis (twice), Ish Sanders and Carson Brooks as Eagles to have earned all-region honors under Benson's guidance.
Zhao turned in the most efficient effort in the SAC this season. He finished fifth in the league in scoring at 19.1 points per game while averaging 61.5 percent shooting from the field and 52.5 percent shooting from three. He ranks 10th nationally in efficiency and second in the league, while topping the conference in three-point efficiency. Zhao leads the nation in three-point efficiency. He resets the program's single-season record for three-point efficiency with his 52.5 percent mark. Zhao finishes the year with 84 threes made tied for the sixth-most in a single season in school history.
He is one of four players in NCAA Division II history to shoot 52 percent or better from three for a season with at least 80 triples made in a year.
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 26 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.
