The University of Memphis men’s basketball team may need an additional trophy case after the 2008-09 season is complete as the Tigers nearly swept the Conference USA specialty awards, the league office announced Tuesday. Senior Antonio Anderson was named the C-USA Defensive Player of the Year, freshman Tyreke Evans the league’s Freshman of the Year and freshman Wesley Witherspoon the C-USA Sixth Man of the Year.

Anderson also made his third-straight appearance on the Conference USA All-Defensive Team, and fellow senior Robert Dozier joined him on the league’s All-Defensive squad. Evans was selected to the C-USA All-Freshman Team.

The C-USA awards and All-Defensive and All-Freshmen teams were voted on by the league’s coaches and selected media members.

Anderson made it a three-year Memphis sweep for the C-USA Defensive Player of the Year honor, as the Tigers’ Joey Dorsey earned the award the previous two years (2007, 2008). Evans is the sixth Memphis freshman to receive the C-USA Freshman of the Year honor, with all six honorees coming in the John Calipari era. Other Tiger freshmen to earn the honor were Dajuan Wagner (2002), Sean Banks (2004), Darius Washington Jr. (2005), Shawne Williams (2006) and Derrick Rose (2008). Witherspoon is the second Tiger to take home the league’s Sixth Man of the Year award, as Jeremy Hunt did so in 2007. It is the third-straight season that two Tigers appeared on the C-USA All-Defensive Team. Anderson and Dorsey both made the squad in the 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons. Read More…

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