Browder named SAC Player of the Year
ROCK HILL, S.C. – For the fourth time in school history, the South Atlantic Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Year is garbed in Orange and Blue.
VIDEO: Jack Browder Interview
VIDEO: Matt Bilbrey Interview
VIDEO: A tribute to POTY Jack Browder
ROCK HILL, S.C. – For the fourth time in school history, the South Atlantic Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year is garbed in Orange and Blue.
Senior forward Jack Browder (Kingsport, Tenn.) capped a glorious regular season with the league's top men's basketball honor. Browder joins Charles Clark (2016-17), Antoine Davis (2012-13) and Kyle Gribble (2002-03) as Eagles to earn the league's player of the year accolade. He is the third coached by head men's basketball coach Chuck Benson.
"Jack's body of work athletically and academically is unparalleled," Benson said. "Being named SAC Player of the Year is a well-deserved milestone accomplishment for Jack. I could not be more thrilled for him to receive this from our league's coaches. He represents our men's basketball program so well. He represents our institution so well, and he is an exceptional example of a Christ-forward servant leader."
In addition to Browder's Player of the Year honor, he also earns all-league honors for the third time in his career and his second on the first team. Sophomore guard Matt Bilbrey (Crossville, Tenn.) was named third-team All-SAC.
Browder is also on the watch list for Small College Basketball's Bevo Francis Award, given to the top player in all Small College Basketball, as well as the Trevor Hudgins Award, which goes to the best four-year player in Small College Basketball.
Jack Browder enters the SAC tournament on 2,068 career points. He is fourth all-time in both Carson-Newman and SAC scoring history. Browder is fifth among active NCAA Division II players in career scoring and 15th among all players in all divisions.
With 888 career rebounds, Browder is fourth among active Division II players in career rebounds. Browder, plus Hall of Famers Mike Ogan and Tommy Everette are the only three members of the 1,500/700 club in Carson-Newman history. Browder is the only player in the NCAA era to do that.
Browder is one of three active players in college basketball with 2,000 career points and 800 career rebounds. Carl Cleveland at Young Harris and Gonzaga's Graham Ike are the only others in the NCAA. Browder's 888 rebounds are the fifth-most in school history and seventh in SAC history. He needs one more rebound to equal Wingate's Bryan Grier (2003-08) for sixth on the league's all-time rebounding list with 889.
With 39 career double-doubles, Browder already has career mark for Carson-Newman for all-time double-doubles (at least in the NCAA era where we have game-by-game stats). He has the most double-doubles among active NCAA Division II players. He has the eighth-most double-doubles amongst players in all divisions. Browder's 13 double-doubles this year lead the SAC and are fourth nationally.
Browder is the only player in NCAA Division II to lead his league in scoring and rebounding. Browder is also the only player in the country in the top 20 in both scoring and rebounding. Browder is third in scoring at 24.8 points per game and 17th in rebounding at 9.6 boards per game.
Browder has 695 points this season. The most by an Eagle in a single-season in the NCAA-era and the seventh-highest scoring total in league history. Browder is averaging 24.8 points per game this season. If he maintains that average, he will join Mike Ogan as the only player in school history to average more than 24 a game. Ogan did it twice, including a school-record 26.3 ppg as a senior in 1973-74.
He has set the SAC single-game record for free throws made in a game without missing. Connecting on all 21 of his foul shots on senior day in an overtime loss to Lenoir-Rhyne.
With 230 made free throws this season, he is second all-time in SAC history for free throws made in a season.
Browder has been recognized as the league's player of the week three times this season.
He has four, 30-point games this year, including a 46-piece against Mars Hill. He produced the fourth-highest single-game scoring effort in school history and the ninth-best night in South Atlantic Conference history. The 40-point point night is the eighth all-time in C-N history. He scored 20 points in the first half before dropping 26 after halftime. Going 17-of-17 at the free throw line broke Tommy Everette's 59-year old school record for the most free throw attempts in a game without missing.
Browder has scored 105 points in his last three games, the second-highest three-game stretch in school history behind the 110 points Charles Clark scored around his then-school record 54-point game his junior year against Coker in 2016-17.
Meanwhile, Matt Bilbrey has produced in his sophomore season.
The Eagles point guard is averaging 14.7 points per game. He has done so while shooting 44.9 percent from the field and 41.4 percent from three. Bilbrey has canned 67 triples this season – the 24th most in a season in school history. He ranks seventh in career three-point percentage in school history at 41.7 percent. Bilbrey has knocked down multiple threes per game in 18 contests. He has drained five against Coker (Dec. 6), Tennessee Wesleyan (Dec. 31) and at Emory & Henry (Jan. 7).
The sophomore has dished out 3.8 assists per game.
He has led C-N in assists 15 times this season. He has 11, five-assist games this year, including a pair of career-best eight-dime days against Newberry (Jan. 17) and at North Georgia (Nov. 26).
Bilbrey has scored in double-digits in a career-best six-game stretch entering the conference tournament. He has scored 10 or more points in all but four of C-N's games this year. He has a septet of 20-point nice this year, including a career-best 23 at Emory & Henry (Jan. 7).
Bilbrey swiped a career-high five steals at Coker (Dec. 6).
Carson-Newman is in action at the SAC Men's Basketball Championships in Rock Hill, S.C. Thursday at 5 p.m. The Eagles take on the Lincoln Memorial Railsplitters. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network begins at 4:45 p.m. with the AEC Countdown to Tipoff on Talk 106.3 (WPFT-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live. A live video feed of the broadcast crew at work on press row can be found on YouTube.
2025-26 South Atlantic Conference Men's Basketball All-Conference
First Team
Jack Browder, Carson-Newman
Osmar Garcia-Araujo, Anderson
Conrad Luczynski, Lenoir-Rhyne
Rashawn Inglemon, Anderson
Evan Ramsey, UVA Wise
Drake Downs, Newberry
Second Team
Justin Banks, Catawba
AJ Wright Jr., Anderson
Korbin Dixon, Emory & Henry
Yoro Diallo, UVA Wise
Akili Evans, Lenoir-Rhyne
Walter Campbell, Lincoln Memorial
Third Team
Matt Bilbrey, Carson-Newman
Ibra Athie, Catawba
Jordan Simpson, Catawba
Julian Dozier, Lenoir-Rhyne
Kam Roberts, UVA Wise
Jackson Crawford, Emory & Henry
All-Freshman
Rashawn Inglemon, Anderson
Isaiah Vick, Wingate
Cy Hardy, UVA Wise
Jordan Attia, Tusculum
Melchior Hughes, Emory & Henry
Player of the Year
Jack Browder, Carson-Newman
Newcomer of the Year
Akili Evans, Lenoir-Rhyne
Freshman of the Year
Rashawn Inglemon, Anderson
Defensive Player of the Year
AJ Wright Jr., Anderson
Coach of the Year
Jimmie Williams, Anderson
