The College of Wooster men's basketball team made North Coast Athletic Conference history on Tuesday by becoming the first school to sweep the league's Player of the Year and Top Defensive Player honors. Senior forward Nick Everett was voted by the conference's nine head coaches as the NCAC Player of the Year, junior guard Jamir Billings captured the Top Defensive Player award for the second time, and junior guard Ashton Price debuted on the All-NCAC team as a first-team selection.
Everett, Wooster's 11th NCAC Player of the Year, was a matchup nightmare for nearly every opponent this season. The 6-8, 250-pound forward ranked second on the team in scoring at 13.5 points per game, and his impeccable efficiency was off the charts. Everett made 72.8 percent (134-of-184) of his field goals to break Wooster alumnus Matt Schlingman's 19-year-old NCAC and school records for single-season field-goal percentage. The senior, who will return next season under the COVID waiver, made a program-record 24 consecutive field goals from Jan. 17 until Feb. 3, coming up two consecutive makes shy of the all-time NCAA Div. III record. Everett started the year with a career-high 25 points in a 78-60 win over the University of Rochester, then upped it to 26 to lead Wooster to an 83-80 overtime victory against DePauw University for the program's 27th consecutive NCAC Tournament quarterfinal win. Everett logged six games this season with at least 18 points, including conference wins over Oberlin College and archrival Wittenberg University. This is Everett's second all-conference honor, as he was a third-team recipient last year.
Billings, the first NCAC player to earn two Top Defensive Player awards, blew out the rest of the conference when it came to steals. Billings tied his single-season record with 84 steals, 34 more than the next-highest total within the NCAC. The junior ranks within the top-five nationally in steals and steals per game. He had 11 games with at least four, including seven at Hiram College, a total tied for the second-most in single-game program history. Billings held some of the NCAC's leading scorers to minimal point efforts. As the primary defender, Billings led the way for Wooster holding NCAC leading scorer Trent Jakacki to just 12 points over the two meetings with Hiram.
The three-time All-NCAC selection was a second-team honoree this season. Billings led the NCAC with 5.9 assists per game and 164 assists, a total 35 more than Oberlin's Yuuki Okubo. Billings' 164 assists are two shy of the program's single-season record and is the exact number he passed out as a first-year. Billings had four games with 10 assists this season to give him nine double-digit outputs for his career. His 10.0 points per game ranked third on the team.
Price, a transfer from Baldwin Wallace University, was Wooster's leading scorer at 15.7 points per game. He led the NCAC with a 50.0 field-goal percentage (145-of-290) among player with at least five makes per game. Price scored in double figures in 24 of Wooster's 28 games and had seven 20-point nights. Price's career-high of 27 points came against Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, and he spearheaded Wooster's rivalry-record-tying eighth straight win over Wittenberg University with 26 points in the NCAC Tournament semifinals. Price logged a career-high seven assists in an 87-86 win over DePauw and had four other games with at least four helpers. Of note, Price's 439 points are tied for the 29th-most in program history.
Wooster went 18-10 this year, with the program extending its run of 18-win seasons to 35 straight. This is the 20th consecutive year at least three Scots were named All-NCAC.
Note, the NCAC has named a Top Defensive Player since 2017.