ST. LOUIS, Mo. - Indiana State men's basketball took home three of the major Missouri Valley men's basketball awards as announced at the awards banquet on Wednesday evening. Coach Josh Schertz (Coach of the Year), Ryan Conwell (Newcomer of the Year), and Xavier Bledson (Sixth Man of the Year) were all honored following the voting as conducted by the league's head coaches, media members, and sports information staff.

Coach of the Year
In his third season with Indiana State, and his third season in Division I, head coach Josh Schertz brought home the MVC Coach of the Year award. Coach Schertz is the fifth head coach to win the award in Sycamore history marking the eighth total time. Former coach Duane Klueh was a four-time winner.

Coach Schertz led the Sycamores to a 26-5, 17-3 MVC record in the 2023-24 regular season, flipping from a 13-23, 4-14 inaugural season with Indiana State in 2021-22. Coach Schertz guided the Sycamores to the most wins since 1978-79 and the most conference wins in program history (17). The Sycamores also earned its first national rankings under Coach Schertz for the first time since the 1978-79 season. Indiana State earned the No. 23 spot on the AP Top 25 and the No. 24 spot on the USA TODAY Sports Coaches poll in the month of February. Every week except once, ISU earned votes since the start of the 2024 calendar year in at least one of the two national polls. Indiana State slowly climbed the rankings in the Collegeinsider.com mid-major poll and led for three-straight weeks in the back-half of the season, before ending in the No. 3 spot.

Newcomer of the Year
Sophomore guard Ryan Conwell earned Newcomer of the Year, marking the first time in program history the Sycamores have won the award in back-to-back years. The sophomore is only the fourth Sycamore to record this award in program history.

Conwell earned the weekly newcomer award five times over the course of the season. He played in 30 of 31 games for the Sycamores, averaging 16.0 PPG and 5.4 RPG. Conwell scored a career-high 27 points against Ball State at Gainbridge Fieldhouse as a part of the Indy Classic. He went on to finish with 20+ points seven times, recording four double-doubles throughout the season. Conwell helped bring home the regular season championship for the Sycamores by racking up two of his four double-doubles in the last three games of the season, grabbing a career-high 12 rebounds in both of those games. Helping close out the season, in the last five games Conwell averaged 17.6 PPG and 8.4. RPG, shooting 53.1% from the floor (54.5% from three) and converted all 18 free throw attempts.

Indiana State had the top two vote recipients in the Newcomer of the Year voting, with Conwell receiving the most votes ahaed of teammate Isaiah Swope.

Sixth Man of the Year
Xavier Bledson, a redshirt senior, earned Sixth Man of the Year in the MVC, marking only the second time a Sycamore has won the award and first since Khristian Smith was honored back in 2014. Bledson played in all 31 games in the regular season, averaging 6.9 PPG and 3.0 RPG. He finished with the third-most assists (85), was fourth on the team in total three-pointers made (35), and tied for the fourth-most rebounds (92). Bledson had the most minutes averaged (18.5) and total points (215) outside the usual starting five.

The MVC Tournament
The 2024 MVC Tournament kicks off tomorrow, March 7. With Indiana State earning the No. 1 seed, the team gets a bye through the first round and will play its opening game on Friday, March 8 at 1 p.m. versus the winner of No. 8 Murray State/No. 9 Missouri State.

Follow the Sycamores
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