SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Western Carolina graduate student
Nicholas Robinson and freshman
Marcus Banks were both named to the All-Southern Conference team on Wednesday afternoon as the league announced its postseason honors. Robinson collected third-team All-SoCon plaudits from the head coaches while Banks landed on the conference's All-Freshman team.
Robinson paced the Catamounts offensively with a 14.8 point per game average that ranked him 10th in the SoCon this season. He finished in double figures in 24 of 29 games played with four games over the 20-point plateau. Robinson also led WCU on the glass with 7.1 rebounds per game, the fifth-best individual average in the conference. He led the Catamounts in rebounds 12 times on the year and had six double-digit rebounding games with a season-best 13 boards twice.
Robinson tallied a career-high 37 points to lead WCU to an 87-84 home win over ETSU on Feb. 2, snapping a 14-game series losing streak to the Bucs. Just two nights later at VMI, the Chicago, Ill., native etched his name into the WCU record books with just the third triple-double in the program's NCAA Division I history with 19 points, 13 rebounds, and 10 assists, earning SoCon Player of the Week accolades on Feb. 7.
Banks earned SoCon All-Freshman team honors from both the league's coaches and the SoCon Sports Media Association (SCSMA) as the Hampton, Va., product averaged 7.8 points and 3.4 rebounds in 30 games played. He finished as WCU's leading scorer three times. Banks finished in double figures on 11 occasions including a career-best 22 points at Charlotte on Dec. 22. He posted his first career double-double at The Citadel on Jan. 26 with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Chattanooga sophomore guard Malachi Smith was selected as the Player of the Year selection by both the coaches and media with The Citadel forward Jason Roche sweeping the Freshman of the Year award. Chattanooga's Lamont Parris was tabbed as the Coach of the Year by his peers with the media selecting Samford's Bucky McMillion as the Anton Foy Coach of the Year.
Western Carolina faces No. 7 seed Mercer in the first round of the 2022 Ingles SoCon Tournament on Friday at 7:30 p.m. at the Harrah's Cherokee Center – Asheville. For tickets, contact the WCU Athletics Ticket Office at (828) 227-2401 or online at CatamountSports.com. Friday's game can be seen on ESPN+ (
paid subscription required) with live Catamount Sports Network audio coverage beginning at 7 p.m., streaming online at CatamountSports.com and heard locally on 105.7 FM / 540 AM WRGC – The River, and online at WRGC.com.
Keep track of everything related to Catamount men's basketball and WCU Athletics through our social media outlets on Facebook fb.com/catamountsports, Instagram @catamountmbb @wcu_catamounts, and Twitter @CatamountMBB @catamounts.
