C-N quartet picks up preseason All-SAC honors

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Posted: Nov 01, 2024

ROCK HILL, S.C. – Carson-Newman has had all four of its horsemen tabbed with preseason all-league honors from the South Atlantic Conference, the league office announced Friday morning.

John Zhao, Nick Brenegan and Jack Browder were all recognized with spots on the first team, while Trey Hubbard picked up a second-team honor. Never before has C-N had four players on the preseason All-SAC teams.

The quartet was the only one in the country last season to have every player average more than 16 points per game.

Jack Browder

Carson-Newman men's basketball sophomore forward Jack Browder is the first man in the history of Carson-Newman's Athletic Deparment to be named a winner of the South Atlantic Conference's President's Award. He is also the seventh all-time men's basketball winner of the league's Scholar Athlete of the Year, and the first since Sawyer Williams was lauded at the conclusion of the 2016-17 season.

Carson-Newman's seven scholar athlete honorees are the most in league history. Mars Hill and Newberry have both had five players recognized. The South Atlantic Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year award is presented annually to one student-athlete in each of the Conference's championship sports and is voted on by the SAC's Faculty Athletic Representatives Committee.

The winners are selected based on their achievements in academics, athletics, service, and leadership. The Kingsport, Tennessee native holds a perfect 4.0 grade point average while studying business administration. Browder has collected a variety of academic accolades over his two seasons with the Eagles, as he is a two-time Carson-Newman Dean's List Member, a two-time Platinum Eagle Scholar, a two-time Hope Scholar, a two-time Presidential Scholar and a CSC Academic All-District team member.

Browder was the only player in the SAC to land among the top ten in both scoring and rebounding this season. 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 11 double doubles. He shot 48.3 percent from the field and 41.0 percent from three while canning 57 triples. Browder made a team-best 110 free throws at an 80.3 percent clip. Browder scored in double-digits in all but two games this season, and entered the SAC tournament on a career-best 15-game streak scoring 10 or more. He topped 20 points on 14 occasions throughout the season and joined Shaun Jones as the only players since 1985 with more than 240 rebounds in a season. For his efforts, he was named the TSWA Player of the Week, an All-SAC selection, and an All-SAC tournament team member.

Off the court, Browder is extremely involved in his community. He volunteers with the First Broad Street United Methodist Church, the Funfest Family Basketball Experience, the Habitat for Humanity ReStore, and with Kingsport area middle school players for one-on-one skill building during the summer. Browder also takes on roles as a speaker at the Boys & Girls Club of Kingsport, a Leadership Council member for Carson-Newman's men's basketball program, a mentor for elementary school students in and around his hometown of Kingsport, and as a participant in Carson-Newman's annual Operation INASMUCH.

Nick Brenegan

Brenegan, the nation's leader in threes, earned his second academic 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 sits in ninth in league history. For the year, Brenegan averaged 17.3 points per game, good for eighth in the conference. He had 24 double-digit scoring efforts this year, nine games where he has crested 20 and two where he 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.

Trey Hubbard

A premier point guard in the Southeast Region, Hubbard finished fourth in the league in assists. Hubbard finished the season averaging 5.0 assists per game, the 12^th time in school history a player has handed out five or more a game. Hubbard averaged 16 points per game, topping 20 points on nine occasions.

He turned in two double-doubles with points and assists on the season, something that had only been done twice before in the last 15 years for the Eagles. Hubbard topped out at 27 points twice, against Wingate (Jan. 20) and Tusculum (Feb. 14). He handed out a career high 13 assists on senior night against Mars Hill (Mar. 2) - one of three double-digit assists nights on the year. He tallied three double-doubles on the year.

He had 15 points and 10 boards at Limestone (Feb. 24) with double-doubles in points and assists coming against Newberry (Jan. 6) with 12 points and 10 dimes, and Anderson (Feb. 17) with 25 points and 10 helpers. A capable rebounder, he averaged 4.3 boards per game with 12 contests of at least five boards, including six of his last seven games on the year.

Hubbard shot 43.5 percent from the field and 35.0 percent from three. He converted 94-of-118 free throws (79.7 percent). Hubbard had nine games where he drained multiple threes, including four contests where he hit three - at Lincoln Memorial (Jan. 3), at Wingate (Jan. 20), at Limestone (Feb. 24) and versus LMU in the SAC tournametn (Mar. 7).

Jonathan Zhao

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 10^th 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 came 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.

2024-25 SAC Preseason All-Conference

First Team

Nick Brenegan, Carson-Newman

Connor Jordan, Lincoln Memorial

John Zhao, Carson-Newman

Wes Enis, Lincoln Memorial

Jack Browder, Carson-Newman

Bradley Dean, UVA Wise

Second Team

Mahmoud Bangura, Lincoln Memorial

Kendall Taylor, Wingate

Kadyn Dawkins, Mars Hill