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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ST. LOUIS, Mo. - University of Memphis’ Tyreke Evans has been named one of 15 finalists for the U.S. Basketball Writers of America’s (USBWA) National Player of the Year award, the organization announced Thursday. The USBWA Player of the Year is the Oscar Robertson Trophy. Evans is the only freshman among the Robertson Trophy finalists.

This is the second-straight year and the third time in the last four seasons that a Tiger player is a finalist for the Robertson Trophy. Chris Douglas-Roberts was a finalist in 2007-08, while Rodney Carney was a finalist for the honor in 2005-06.

Evans, an eight-time Conference USA Rookie of the Week recipient, leads the Tigers in scoring with a 17.1 average. He is also averaging 5.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 2.2 steals. Evans is second on the team in assists and leads the squad in steals. The Chester, Pa., native is shooting 45.8 percent from the field, 31.9 percent from the arc and 70.5 percent from the free throw line. He is ranked among the Conference USA leaders in scoring (7th), rebounding (18th), field goal percentage (9th), assists (11th) and steals (2nd).

In mid-January, Evans was named to collegehoops.net Mid-Season All-Freshman first team.

Joining Evans as finalists for the Robertson Trophy are: Pittsburgh’s DeJuan Blair, Kansas’ Sherron Collins, Villanova’s Dante Cunningham, Davidson’s Stephen Curry, Oklahoma’s Blake Griffin, North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough and Ty Lawson, Notre Dame’s Luke Harangody, Arizona State’s James Harden, Marquette’s Jerel McNeal, Kentucky’s Jodie Meeks, Connecticut’s Hasheem Thabeet, Wake Forest’s Jeff Teague and Ohio State’s Evan Turner.

The Robertson Trophy is voted on by the entire membership of the USBWA, which consists of nearly 800 journalists. The ballot will be distributed to the membership on Mar. 2. The presentation of this year’s award will take place on Apr. 3 at the USBWA’s annual awards breakfast at the downtown Detroit Athletic Club in conjunction with the NCAA Men’s Final Four.

The Robertson Trophy is the nation’s oldest award and the only one named after a former player. The legendary Oscar Robertson was the USBWA’s first player of the year in 1959. The USBWA renamed its Player of the Year award the Oscar Robertson Trophy in 1998.

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