GREENVILLE, S.C. – Carson-Newman junior forward John Zhao (Sevierville, Tenn.) has picked up second-team all-region honors from the NABC, the organization announced Monday morning.
Zhao has been recognized by both the D2CCA and NABC with second-team all-region honors. He, LMU center Martez Brown and Wingate guard Donnell Nixon are the only players from the South Atlantic Conference to appear on both D2CCA and NABC all-region squads.
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.
Southeast
First Team
Martez Brown - Lincoln Memorial
Frank Champion - North Georgia
KJ Jones II - Emmanuel
Donell Nixon II - Wingate
AJ White - North Georgia
Second Team
Uzziah Dawkins - Converse
Tyler Johnson - USC Aiken
Javeon Jones - Catawba
Jalen McCoy - USC Aiken
John Zhao - Carson-Newman
Co-Coaches of the Year: Brian Good - Wingate and Mark Vanderslice - USC Aiken
