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Colorado State men’s basketball received more accolades today as Larry Eustachy was named the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) District 17 Coach of the Year, while senior guard Gian Clavell and senior forward Emmanuel Omogbo were named First Team All-District.
The Mountain West Coach of the Year by both the league’s coaches and media, Eustachy led the Rams to a 24-11 overall record, 13-5 in the Mountain West, a berth in the finals of the MW Championship and a second-round appearance in the National Invitation Tournament. The 13 wins tied the program record for conference wins, while CSU also set a new school mark with five consecutive league road wins in a single season. Under his leadership, Colorado State also won seven straight conference games, also a new program record for consecutive Mountain West victories. Eustachy’s teams now hold the top three spots for single-season wins in CSU history (27 – 2014-15, 26 – 2012-13, 24 – 2016-17). This year, he earned his 500th Division I career victory, becoming the 61st coach to reach that mark.
The Mountain West Player of the Year and an All-MW First Team, MW All-Defensive team and a U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) All-District selection, Clavell leads the Mountain West in league scoring at 20.4 points per game, including four games of 30 points or more. Clavell also ranks in the top 10 in the league in seven other categories, leading in minutes played (36.6 mpg) and ranking second in steals (2.0 spg) and 3-pointers made (2.9 3pg), fourth in 3-point field goal percentage (.386) seventh in defensve rebounds (4.9 drpg), seventh in field goal percentage (43.0) and eighth in overall rebounding (6.3 rpg). He scored in double figures in all 16 Mountain West games and 26 of 27 games played overall. The Puerto Rico native tallied a career-high 37 points, with 30 in the second half and the game-winning layup with 3.8 seconds to play, at San Diego State, earning him MW Player of the Week honors. He also earned a spot on the MW All-Tournament team after leading the Rams to the championship game for the first time since 2003 and averaging 27.0 points in the three contests.
Omogbo became the new standard for double-doubles in the Mountain West this season, recording a new league record with 13 during conference play and 20 overall for the season, ranking in the top-20 nationally, setting a new school single-season record and joining the record book as the third-best mark in MW history. He leads the conference in rebounding at 10.4 boards per conference game and ranked 12th in scoring at 13.6 points a contest. He is also third in league-only field goal percentage, hitting .482 of his shot attempts. The senior scored a career-high 24 points, with 17 coming in the final half, in the win at San Diego State, Jan. 28. He hit a 3-pointer with 4.1 seconds left for the game-winner over San Diego State, Feb. 25, part of an 11-point, 11-rebound effort. For his CSU career, Omogbo now has 28 double-doubles, which is seventh all-time on the MW career list, and his 9.24 rebounds in 69 career games ranks as the fifth-best mark in league annals.
The all-district teams serve as a nomination list for the NABC’s All-American teams, which will be announced during the NCAA’s Final Four on April 1-3.
Featured Image Credit: Colorado State Men’s Basketball, Twitter
