ST. LOUIS -- Indiana State's duo of
Tyreke Key and
Cooper Neese have each picked up MIssouri Valley Conference postseason honors as announced by the league office this morning. The MVC Postseason honors are selected by a panel of MVC Head Coaches, media personalities and the league's communications directors.
Tyreke Key, a native of Celina, Tenn., was named to the All-Missouri Valley Conference Second Team after earning MVC All-Freshman plaudits one year ago. Key became just the fourth-ever Sycamore to lead the MVC in overall scoring averaging 17.3 points per game and tallying 518 points. He joins Larry Bird,
John Sherman Williams and David Moss as the only four in the history of the program to lead the Valley in scoring. His 44.3 percent mark from 3-point range ranked fourth in the league and his 34.2 minutes played was tops in the conference.
In MVC only games, Key averaged 17.5 points per game which was third-best while his 79.6 percent mark from the free throw line was 10th. He played 34.6 minutes per game which was third-most in the league. He scored a career-high 32 points in the road overtime victory over Valparaiso and hit four 3-pointers in the dominating home win on February 20 against Illinois State. Key recorded 26 double digit scoring games this year and went over the 20-point mark 10 times and the 30-point standard once.
Key is joined on the All-MVC Second Team by Darrell Brown (Bradley), Brady Ellingson (Drake), Armon Fletcher (Southern Illinois) and Milik Yarbrough (Illinois State). The All-MVC First Team includes Tulio Da Silva (Missouri State), Phil Fayne (Illinois State), Cameron Krutwig (Loyola), Nick McGlynn (Drake) and Marques Townes (Loyola).
Cooper Neese, a native of Cloverdale, Ind., was the named to the Missouri Valley Conference All-Freshman Team. He became eligible on December 16 when the Sycamores traveled to Texas Christian and played 22 games while earning five starts. He averaged 8.4 points per game and hit 57-of-140 from the field -- a 40.7 percent mark. He connected on 28 3-pointers with 23 assists and 21 steals. In MVC only games, Neese averaged 9.3 points per game with 3.2 rebounds and hit 43.2 percent of his shots as well as 41.7 percent of his attempts from distance. He finished league play with 18 points and 18 steals.
Neese recorded 11 double digit scoring games and hit the 20 point mark once this season -- at Bradley where he tallied 20 points. He hit a season-best four 3-pointers twice during the season and was true on eight free throws in the road overtime win at Valparaiso.
He was joined on the MVC All-Freshman Team by Javon Freeman (Valparaiso), AJ Green (UNI), Cooper Kaifes (Loyola) and D.J. Wilkins (Drake).
Indiana State has earned the No. 8 seed at Arch Madness this week and will take on Valparaiso at 7:08 p.m. (ET) from the Enterprise Center in St. Louis. The game will air live on the MVC TV Network. A pre-game reception is scheduled for 4 p.m. (Central) at the Hilton Downtown on Olive Street.
