PORTLAND, Ore. — After securing the program's winningest season in 17 years, the Montana State Billings men's basketball team reeled in a handful of Great Northwest Athletic Conference awards for the 2022-23 season.
On Tuesday, the GNAC announced that MSUB guard Carrington Wiggins is the league's player of the year, forward Bilal Shabazz is its defensive player of the year and Mick Durham is coach of the year.
Wiggins, last year's GNAC newcomer of the year, averaged 18.1 points per game, second-highest in the conference. He shot 47.3% from the floor, and his .918 free throw percentage is tops in the league and the second best mark in school history. His 53 steals led the GNAC.
Shabazz bolstered MSUB, which allowed opponents to score 67.5 points per game, third fewest in the league. Shabazz ranked fourth in the GNAC in blocked shots at 1.2 per game, and he averaged 8.6 rebounds.
Wiggins and Shabazz were both named first-team All-GNAC.
Durham won his second GNAC coach of the year honor while guiding the Yellowjackets to a 20-8 overall mark and a 14-4 record in the league. Durham, who won coach of the year in the Big Sky Conference three times at Montana State, led the team to its best regular season win total since 2005-06 and its most conference wins ever.
MSUB finished second in the GNAC regular season standings and will play either Seattle Pacific or Northwest Nazarene on Friday at the conference tournament in Bellingham, Wash.
