KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The postseason accolades continue to roll in for Little Rock coming off the Trojans' 2019-20 Sun Belt Conference title season, this time coming from the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC). Head coach
Darrell Walker was today named the NABC District 23 Coach of the Year while
Markquis Nowell and
Ruot Monyyong were both named First Team All-District selections.
The honors mirror the awards received by the Trojans from the Sun Belt Conference with Walker earning Sun Belt Coach of the Year and Nowell and Monyyong each receiving first team recognition. The All-District team was voted on by NABC member coaches.
With Nowell and Monyyong both selected to the first team, it marks the first time in program history Little Rock has had two players earn first team honors in the same season. It is the fourth time a pair of Trojans have earned All-District accolades in the same season and the first since 2008-09 when Shane Edwards was a first team honoree and Steven Moore earned second team recognition.
Darrell Walker – NABC District 23 Coach of the Year
In his second season at Little Rock, Walker helped engineer one of the nation's best turnarounds. After going 10-21 in 2018-19, the Trojans were picked 11th in the preseason poll and flipped their record, posting a 21-10 mark in 2019-20. Walker helped guide the Trojans to a 15-5 Sun Belt mark, claiming Little Rock's first outright league title since 2015-16.
Walker helped guide the Trojans to a 13-2 mark at the Jack Stephens Center, tying for the second-most home wins since Little Rock moved to their on-campus home. Walker becomes the second Trojan head coach to earn NABC District Coach of the Year honors, joining Chris Beard in 2015-16.
Markquis Nowell – NABC First Team All-District
A first team All-Sun Belt selection, Nowell was Little Rock's floor general in 2019-20, at times carrying the team on his back. He ranked in the top-four in the Sun Belt in six statistical categories, leading the league in free throw percentage (87.9%) and three pointers per game (2.8) while sitting second in assists (4.9), third in steals (2.2) and three point field goal percentage (39.1%) and fourth in scoring (17.2).
A three-time Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week, the Harlem, New York native also ranked among the top-50 nationally in five statistical categories, including sitting 17th in steals per game (2.21), 19th in free throw percentage (87.9%) and 30th in total steals (62). He scored 20 or more points 12 times on the year, including games of 33 and 32 points in Sun Belt play, and is the Trojans' active career scoring leader at 749 points in two seasons.
Ruot Monyyong – NABC First Team All-District
The Sun Belt Conference's Defensive Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year, Monyyong was a key factor for the Little Rock turnaround as he is the Sun Belt Conference leader in rebounds (9.8), defensive rebounds (7.6), blocks (2.0) and double-doubles (16), holding comfortable margins on the next closest player in each category. Nationally, he ranks among the top-40 in six different statistical categories, including 15th in defensive rebounds per game (7.61) and 17th in the NCAA in double-doubles.
The Nashville, Tennessee native has already started to place his name in the Little Rock record books as his 62 blocks on the year is the most for the Trojans during the Division I era and third all-time in program history. He lead the team with 24 games scoring in double figures and pulled down double digit rebounding totals 17 times in 2019-20.
About the National Association of Basketball Coaches
Located in Kansas City, Missouri, the NABC was founded in 1927 by Phog Allen, the legendary basketball coach at the University of Kansas. Allen, a student of James Naismith, the inventor of basketball, organized coaches into this collective group to serve as Guardians of the Game. The NABC currently has nearly 5,000 members consisting primarily of university and college men's basketball coaches. All members of the NABC are expected to uphold the core values of being a Guardian of the Game by bringing attention to the positive aspects of the sport of basketball and the role coaches play in the academic and athletic lives of today's student-athletes. Additional information about the NABC, its programs and membership, can be found at
www.nabc.com.
2019-20 NABC All-District 23
First Team
Nijal Pearson – Texas State
Markquis Nowell – Little Rock
Josh Ajayi – South Alabama
DeVante' Jones – Coastal Carolina
Ruot Monyyong – Little Rock
Second Team
Justin Forrest – Appalachian State
Ike Smith – Georgia Southern
Michael Ertel – ULM
David Azore – UT Arlington
Kane Williams – Georgia State
Coach of the Year: Darrell Walker – Little Rock
#LittleRocksTeam
