The College of Wooster's Jamir Billings is taking home the North Coast Athletic Conference's Top Defensive Player and Newcomer of the Year prizes, while three members of the Fighting Scots' men's basketball team are on this year's All-NCAC squad, which was announced on Tuesday morning. Senior Brandon Styers made this year's first-team, junior Turner Kurt is a second-team selection, and Billings was named to the honorable mention squad.
Billings provided an instant impact to Wooster's tradition-rich program, and by midseason, the first-year was well entrenched as a legit record-breaking power. The newcomer's 164 assists were just two shy of Sam Dixon's single-season program record set during the 1978-79 season. He broke Antwyan Reynolds' single-season record for steals and ended the year with 84. Billings tied Mike Stoll's single-game record set in 1972 with 12 assists during Wooster's 91-77 win over Kenyon College on January 12 and went on to follow that up with 10 helpers in his first start against archrival Wittenberg University. A game later, Billings hit double-digits in assists for the third straight time – a first in program history – with 11 against Denison University, and in doing so, he is just the first player ever at Wooster with three games with at least 10 assists.
In addition to his 10 assists against archrival Wittenberg, Billings tied Wooster's single-game record with seven steals, a record he would later break with a 10-steal night at Hiram College. Billings ranked fourth on the team with 11.5 points per game, and his high of 25 came at Ohio Wesleyan University. The 5-11 guard's 5.2 rebounds were second on Wooster's team and he had two games with double-digit boards. Enter the week, Billings ranks fifth national in steals, seventh in assists, 13th in steals per game, and 20th in assists per game.
Styers, a D3hoops.com All-Region selection as a junior, finished as Wooster's leading scorer at 15.5 points per night. The senior is currently seventh in the NCAC in scoring. Styers upped his career-high to 34 points in Wooster's win over Kenyon. In that game, the biology major went an electric 14-of-19 from the floor. Styers turned in five 20-point games on the year. Elsewhere, he ranked fourth on the team in rebounding with 4.5 per night and averaged 1.1 assists per game.
Kurt posted top-four NCAC rankings in rebounds (7.3) and field-goal percentage (55.9, 133-of-238). His 13.4 points per game ranked third on the team. Kurt's high of 31 points came at University of California Santa Cruz. In that game, he finished 14-of-17 from the floor and was a rebound shy of a double-double. Kurt upped his Wooster high in rebounding to 14 in the NCAC Tournament quarterfinals.
Of note, this is the 18th consecutive year at least three Wooster players made the all-conference team. Billings is the first Scot to be named the NCAC's Most Outstanding Defensive Player, an award that started with the 2016-17 season. He is Wooster's first NCAC Newcomer of the Year since Xavier Brown was chosen during the 2011-12 season. Overall, Wooster players have earned the NCAC Newcomer of the Year honor six times.
Wooster went 19-9 on the year, which included a second-place NCAC mark of 13-5. With 19 wins, Wooster has at least 18 wins in 33 consecutive full seasons.