Indianapolis, Ind. – Youngstown State Head Coach Jerrod Calhoun was been named the 2022-23 Horizon League Men's Basketball Coach of the Year, and four players earned Horizon League postseason honors after a vote of the league's head coaches, the league announced on Monday.
Calhoun guided the Penguins to the first regular-season conference championship in program history with a 15-5 league mark and an overall record of 23-8. The Penguins 23 wins are the most in its Division I history and the most since 1963-64.
He is the first Youngstown State men's basketball coach to win the Horizon League's top coaching award, and the first to win the award since Dan Peters won the Mid-Continent Conference Coach of the Year in 1997-98.
Senior Dwayne Cohill was named All-Horizon League First-Team while graduate student Adrian Nelson and junior Brandon Rush were named All-Horizon League Third-Team. Freshman John Lovelace, Jr., was named to the Horizon League All-Freshman Team.
This is the first time in program history three Youngstown State players were named to the all-conference teams in the same season.
Cohill, a third-team all-league selection in 2021-22, ranked in the top 10 in the league in five different statistical categories. He was second with 4.9 assists per game, third with a .529 field-goal percentage, fifth with a .857 free-throw percentage, sixth with 17.8 points per game, and ninth with 1.4 steals per game. Against league opponents, Cohill averaged 19.1 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 5.3 assists per game while shooting 50.6 percent from the floor.
Cohill is the first Youngstown State player to earn all-league honors in consecutive years since 2018-20, and is the sixth player in program history named all-conference multiple times.
Nelson led the Horizon League with 9.5 rebounds per game overall, ranked eighth with a .503 field-goal percentage and 15th with 13.3 points per game. He led the league and ranked 17th nationally with 12 double-doubles. His 295 rebounds rank 10th in the country while his per game average ranks 19th.
Rush scored in double figures 23 times and led the team with 70 3-pointers. He ranked tied for seventh in the league with 2.3 3-pointers made per game, 10th with a .494 field-goal percentage and 13th with 14.1 points per game. His 71 3-pointers rank eighth on the YSU single-season list and are the most made by a YSU player since Cameron Morse had 79 in 2017-18.
Lovelace appeared in all 31 games for the Penguins and averaged 4.6 points and 2.2 rebounds per game. He owned a .537 field-goal percentage and scored in double figures four times this season. He is the first YSU player to be named to the all-freshman team since Shemar Rathan-Mayes in 2020-21.
2022-23 #HLMBB All-League Awards
Player of the Year: Antoine Davis, Detroit Mercy
Coach of the Year: Jerrod Calhoun, Youngstown State
Freshman of the Year: Brandon Noel, Wright State
Defensive Player of the Year: Ahmad Rand, Milwaukee
Sixth Player of the Year: Trevon Faulkner, Northern Kentucky
All-League First Team (alphabetical by school)
Tristan Enaruna, Cleveland State
Antoine Davis, Detroit Mercy
Jalen Moore, Oakland
Trey Calvin, Wright State
Dwayne Cohill, Youngstown State
All-League Second Team (alphabetical by school)
BJ Freeman, Milwaukee
Marques Warrick, Northern Kentucky
Trey Townsend, Oakland
Jarred Godfrey, Purdue Fort Wayne
Kahliel Spear, RMU
All-League Third Team (alphabetical by school)
Jlynn Counter, IUPUI
Sam Vinson, Northern Kentucky
Enoch Cheeks, RMU
Adrian Nelson, Youngstown State
Brandon Rush, Youngstown State
All-Freshman Team (alphabetical by school)
Vincent Brady II, IUPUI
DJ Jackson, IUPUI
Elijah Jamison, Milwaukee
Brandon Noel, Wright State
John Lovelace Jr., Youngstown State
All-Defensive Team (alphabetical by school)
Deante Johnson, Cleveland State
Deshon Parker, Cleveland State
Ahmad Rand, Milwaukee
Sam Vinson, Northern Kentucky
Kahliel Spear, RMU
