The Northwestern State University announces Sharp named finalist for Lou Henson Player of the Year Award
NATCHITOCHES – A day after the Southland Conference Tournament championship game, the honors continue to roll in for Northwestern State point guard DeMarcus Sharp.
Sharp, the Southland Conference's Player and Newcomer of the Year, was named a finalist for the Lou Henson Award, given to the top mid-major player in Division I men's basketball.
A senior guard from Charleston, Missouri, Sharp capped his first Northwestern State season with a 32-point, seven-assist performance in the Demons' 75-71 tournament title-game loss to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Wednesday afternoon. That was part of a two-game tournament run in which Sharp averaged 31.5 points and eight assists per game, giving him his second set of back-to-back, 30-point performances of the season.
His first set of consecutive 30-plus performances at Stephen F. Austin on Dec. 1 and against Southern Miss on Dec. 4 earned him Lou Henson National Player of the Week honors from CollegeInsider.com as well as Mid-Major Madness National Player of the Week acclaim.
Sharp helped lead the Demons to a 13-win improvement and their most wins in a season since 2012-13 as well as the most Southland Conference wins in a season for the program since 2014-15. He holds three top-20 statistical marks nationally – field goal attempts (544, 5th), field goals (251, 9th) and points (644, 16th).
Those marks are among the nine national top-100 numbers produced by the 6-foot-3, 180-pound guard.
His 644 total points rank fourth in school single-season history and his 40-point performance in a Feb. 25 loss at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi was NSU's first 40-pointer since Billy Reynolds dropped 42 on Lamar on Dec. 4, 1976.
Sharp finished his first season as a Demon leading the team in scoring, assists (165), steals (64) and blocks (26) while ranking second on the team in rebounding (5.0 per game) and third in free throw shooting (80.7 percent).
The winner of the Lou Henson Award, which is named for the longtime coach at Illinois and New Mexico State who won 775 games in 41 seasons, will be presented later this month in Houston, site of the men's NCAA Final Four.
Players from the America East, ASUN, Big Sky, Big South, Big West, Colonial, Horizon, Ivy, Metro Atlantic, Mid-American, MEAC, Missouri Valley, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Patriot, Southern, Southland, SWAC, Summit, Sun Belt, WAC and West Coast conferences are eligible for the award.
Sharp joins coach Corey Gipson as Demon award finalists. Gipson, earlier this week, was named a finalist for the Ben Jobe Award, the Joe B. Hall Award and the Hugh Durham Award, all presented by CollegeInsider.com.
2022-23 LOU HENSON AWARD FINALISTS
Max Abmas, Oral RobertsDalton Bolon, CharlestonMike Bothwell, Furman
Jordan Brown, UL Lafayette
Joe Bryant Jr., Norfolk State
Sincere Carry, Kent State
Walter Clayton Jr., Iona
Austin Crowley, Southern Miss
Antoine Davis, Detroit
RayJ Dennis, Toledo
Tucker DeVries, Drake
Jordan Dingle, Penn
Aaron Estrada, Hofstra
Logan Johnson, Saint Mary's
Tevian Jones, Southern Utah
Taevion Kinsey, Marshall
Ryan Larson, Charleston
Darius McGhee, Liberty
Ajay Mitchell, UCSB
Drew Pember, UNC Asheville
Dylan Penn, Vermont
Brandin Podziemski, Santa Clara
Tucker Richardson, Colgate
Cam Shelton, Loyola Marymount
DeMarcus Sharp, Northwestern State
Ben Sheppard, BelmontJT Shumate, Toledo
Jalen Slawson, Furman
Marques Warrick, Northern Kentucky
Chris Youngblood, Kennesaw State
Original source can be found here .