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Western Carolina senior guard Vonterius Woolbright continued to add to his litany of awards from the 2023-24 season as he was named to the first-team National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) All-District 21 team released on Tuesday by the organization. The All-District honors are voted on by NABC-member coaches across NCAA Division I college basketball.
Woolbright was joined on the All-District first team by Achor Achor of Samford, UNCG’s Mikeal Brown-Jones and Keyshaun Langley, and JP Pegues from Furman. Collecting second-team All-District 21 plaudits were Trey Bonham and Honor Huff of Chattanooga, Samford’s Rylan Jones, Jayln McCreary from Mercer, and Wofford’s Corey Tripp. The league’s coach of the year – Samford’s Bucky McMillan – collected the district’s top coaching honor announced Tuesday.
Woolbright was a second-team All-District 21 selection a season ago where he was joined by classmate Tre Jackson on the 2022-23 honorary squad.
Dubbed both the preseason and postseason Southern Conference Player of the Year, Woolbright landed on the first-team All-Southern Conference as selected in a joint coaches and media vote. The Albany, Ga., product earned a league-record nine SoCon Player of the Week honors – eclipsing the benchmark set by former Davidson star and SoCon Hall of Famer Stephen Curry back in 2008-09 – and swept the league’s monthly awards during the 2023-24 season. Selected to the midseason watch list for the Lou Henson Award in mid-January, Woolbright was also a two-time Oscar Robertson Trophy National Player of the Week while also landing among the 40 finalists in consideration for the trophy and for All-America plaudits from the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA).
Averaging a SoCon-leading 21.1 points and 12.0 rebounds per game, Woolbright scored in double figures in all 32 of Western Carolina’s seasonal games with 20 or more points 19 times including three, 30-point performances. He posted a league-best 27 double-doubles – second in the NCAA – while also leading the nation with five triple-doubles, one of just six players nationally to achieve the feat multiple times in 2023-24. At the end of the regular season, Woolbright ranked 17th nationally in scoring and was second in rebounding which included leading the country with a 9.78 defensive rebound per game average. He also finished the season second in the SoCon with a 5.6 assist per-game average, 28th nationally.
Woolbright is the first player in the SoCon to finish the regular season averaging over 20 points per game since VMI's Bubba Parham in 2018-19, while also becoming the first Catamount to average over 20 points per game since Kevin Martin (24.9 ppg) back in 2003-04.
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Catamounts on NABC All-District 21 in Recent Years:
2023-24: Vonterius Woolbright, 1st team
2022-23: Vonterius Woolbright, 2nd team
2022-23: Tre Jackson, 2nd team
2022-23: Justin Gray, Coach of the Year
2020-21: Mason Faulkner, 2nd team
2019-20: Carlos Dotson, 1st team
2019-20: Mason Faulkner, 1st team
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