KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Junior guards Mason Harrell and Caleb Asberry was named to the 2020-21 National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division I All-District 23 Second Team, and head coach Terrence "TJ" Johnson was honored as the District 23 Coach of the Year on Tuesday morning.
Harrell and Asberry have become the fourth and fifth NABC DI All-District selections for Texas State since 2015 and join Emani Gant (2015) and Kavin Gilder-Tilbury (2017) as second-team honorees. Nijal Pearson was tabbed first-team in 2019.
Harrell started in 23 of the 24 games he appeared in and led the Bobcats with 13.9 points per game, ranking No. 8 in the conference. Harrell shot 46.6 percent from the floor, 41.9 percent from 3-point range, and shot 78.3 from the free-throw line. He also added 3.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 1.2 steals per game in 36.2 minutes per game. The Oklahoma native had three 20-point games this season, including a career-high 27 points against Louisiana on Jan. 30, 2021. Other career-highs set this season by Harrell were six rebounds at UT Arlington (Feb. 11, 2021) and four steals at Louisiana (Jan. 2, 2021).
Asberry appeared in 25 games and made 19 starts, where he averaged 13.3 points per game this season behind a 48.4 field goal percentage, including a 41.7 3-point field goal percentage. He was also 81.3% from the free-throw line. Asberry pulled down 4.3 rebounds, handed out 1.9 assists, and had 1.2 steals per game. The Bobcats were a perfect 7-0 when Asberry led the team in scoring and totaled five 20-point games this season, including a career-high 28 points at the Pioneer Challenge in Denver, Colo. Due to his performances in that tournament, Asberry was named the Pioneer Challenge MVP after averaging 24.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 3.0 steals in two games. He was also named the Sun Belt Player of the Week (Jan. 18, 2021) after averaging 20.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 1.0 steals per game in the two-game sweep at Little Rock (Jan. 15-16, 2021).
Coach TJ led the Bobcats to an 18-7 overall record, marking the most wins of any first-year coach for Texas State men's basketball in the Division I era, and the second-most all-time behind Dan Wall, who totaled 20 wins in the 1977-78 season. The Bobcats also won the 2020-21 Sun Belt Conference regular-season championship, marking the program's first championship in the Sun Belt Conference and the first since winning Southland Conference regular-season championship in 1999. TJ is the first Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year since the program joined the Sun Belt in 2013-14, and is the third coach overall to win a conference Coach of the Year award, joining Jim Wooldridge (1994) and Mike Miller (1997), who both won the accolade with the Southland Conference.
District 23
First Team
DeVante' Jones - Coastal Carolina
Michael Flowers - South Alabama
Shahada Wells - UT Arlington
Cedric Russell - Louisiana
Ruot Monyyong - Little Rock
Second Team
Mason Harrell - Texas St.
Corey Allen - Georgia St.
Norchad Omier - Arkansas St.
Marquis Eaton - Arkansas St.
Caleb Asberry - Texas St.
Coach of the Year: Terrence "TJ" Johnson, Texas State
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