Michigan State Men’s Basketball 2015 Awards Banquet: Trice voted Team MVP by his teammates; Dawson and Valentine share media vote.
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Eight different MSU players were recognized on Monday night as Michigan State held its annual Men’s Basketball Awards Banquet for the 2014-15 season. Senior Travis Trice was voted MVP by his teammates, while fellow senior Branden Dawson and junior Denzel Valentine split the media vote.
Trice averaged a team-best 14.8 points per game in the regular season. He scored more than 20 points on eight occasions, including seven Big Ten games. Heading into the Big Ten Tournament, Valentine has started all 31 games for the Spartans and is second on the team in scoring (14.5 ppg), rebounding (6.1 rpg) and assists (4.2 apg). Dawson has tallied nine double-doubles this season, including eight in Big Ten play.
Dawson was also the recipient of the Jumping Johnny Green Chairman of the Boards Award after leading the Big Ten with 9.3 rebounds per game during the regular season. Dawson and freshman Lourawls “Tum Tum†Nairn Jr. shared the John E. Benington Best Defensive Player Award. Dawson was the only Big Ten player to rank in the Top 10 in the conference in steals (10th), blocks (8th), and defensive rebounds (2nd), while Nairn proved to play tenacious defense, especially once he moved into the starting lineup. Nairn also received the Stephen G. Scofes Inspirational Player Award and shared the Antonio Smith Glue and Guts Award with Valentine.
For the second-straight year, Valentine was named the team’s Most Improved Player, becoming the first player to win it in back-to-back years since Maurice Ager in 2004 and 2005.
Red-shirt junior Colby Wollenman received the Scholar Athlete Award for the second consecutive season and was also voted the winner of the Unsung Player Award. Wollenman, a physiology (pre-med) major who carries a 3.98 cumulative GPA, was named to the Capital One Academic All-District 5 men’s basketball team on Feb. 6 and has appeared in 24 games for MSU, averaging 1.4 points and 1.7 rebounds per contest. His season included four points vs. Duke and five rebounds vs. Kansas.
Rounding out the honorees were juniors Trevor Bohnoff and Matt Van Dyk as co-recipients of the Tim Bograkos Walk-On Award.
2015 Michigan State Men’s Basketball Banquet Award Winners
Most Valuable Player (Team Vote): Travis Trice
Most Valuable Player (Media Vote): (tie) - Branden Dawson, Denzel Valentine
Scholar Athlete Award: Colby Wollenman
Unsung Player Award: Colby Wollenman
Tim Bograkos Walk-On Award: (tie) - Trevor Bohnhoff, Matt Van Dyk
Most Improved Player Award: Denzel Valentine
John E. Benington Best Defensive Player Award: (tie) - Lourawls “Tum Tum†Nairn Jr., Branden Dawson
Stephen G. Scofes Inspirational Player Award: Lourawls “Tum Tum†Nairn Jr.
Antonio Smith Glue and Guts Award: (tie) - Lourawls “Tum Tum†Nairn Jr., Denzel Valentine
Jumping Johnny Green Chairman of the Boards Award: Branden Dawson
Senior Manager Award: Scott Besko, Scott Deater, Brian Palazzolo, Jake Schemmel
