Men’s Basketball receives national academic excellence award with eight earning individual honors
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The University of Wisconsin-Platteville men’s basketball team was recognized for the second consecutive year for its academic success by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC).
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The University of Wisconsin-Platteville men's basketball team was recognized for the second consecutive year for its academic success by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC).
This is the second time the Pioneers have received the NABC Team Academic Excellence Award since its introduction nine years ago. The honor recognizes outstanding academic achievement by a team with a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or higher. The list of recipients includes teams across the NCAA, NAIA and NAJCAA and must include GPA of all student-athletes who competed during the 2020-21 season.
Individually, the Pioneers had a conference-high eight individuals who landed a spot on the NABC 2020-21 Honors Court. Criteria to qualify for the Honors Court includes: academically a junior or senior and a varsity player, cumulative GPA of 3.2 or higher at the conclusion of the 2020-21 year, at least one year at the current institution and a member of a NCAA DI, DII, DIII or NAIA DI institution with a NABC member coach. Locking in a spot on the court for the Pioneers includes Justin Fox (Sr./Agriculture Business and Animal Science), Drew Gunnink (Sr./Building Construction Management), Justin Jarvensivu (Sr./Mathematics), Blake McCann (Jr./ Building Construction Management), Alex Ranney (Sr./Health and Human Performance), Quentin Shields (Sr./Biology), Kyle Tuma (Jr./Building Construction Management) and Tomas Vikonis (Jr./Accounting and Finance). Across the WIAC, nine other student-athletes from three different institutions made the 2020-21 court.
The 2020-21 WIAC Championship squad earned a 3.267 GPA in the academic year.