ROCK HILL, S.C. – The hottest team in college basketball is beginning to add hardware to its already historic season as Lincoln Memorial University sophomore guard Courvoisier McCauley has been named the 2019-20 South Atlantic Conference Player of the Year, in addition to redshirt sophomore guard Cameron Henry tabbed SAC Defensive Player of the Year and lead man Josh Schertz selected as SAC Coach of the Year. The announcement of the league's all-conference teams and individual superlatives was made Thursday morning.
 
Redshirt junior guard Devin Whitfield, along with McCauley, earned a spot on the 2019-20 All-SAC First Team, while senior point guard Anthony Brown and Henry were both placed on the All-SAC Second Team.
 
McCauley becomes the fifth Railsplitter to garner SAC Player of the Year accolades following in the footsteps of Desmond Johnson (2010-11), Vincent Bailey (2013-14), Lorenza Ross (2014-15) and Emanuel Terry (2017-18). Just the league's third SAC Defensive Player of the Year award, Henry becomes the second LMU player to earn the distinction after Terry was named 2017-18 defensive player of the year.
 
Schertz, who was picked as SAC Coach of the Year for five consecutive seasons from 2013-14 to 2017-18, gathers his seventh conference coach of the year plaudit in the last 10 seasons.
 
McCauley has been nothing shy of sensational throughout his sophomore campaign, averaging 20.1 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game while shooting an astounding 44.7 percent from three-point land. Second in the 12-team SAC in scoring, McCauley ranks 12th nationally with 98 made threes this season and is the 23rd-most efficient three-point shooter in the land. The Indianapolis, Indiana (Manuel HS), native is averaging 3.2 threes a game, which is 35th in the nation, and has connected on four or more treys on 12 different occasions.
 
Reaching double-figure scoring in all but three games, McCauley has notched 20 points or more 16 times and hit the 30-point mark in three outings. The 6-foot-5 swingman is responsible for five double-doubles and scored a career-high 44 points on Dec. 15 in a 97-77 home win over Lenoir-Rhyne. It marked the most in a single game by a Railsplitter during LMU's NCAA era and tied for the seventh-most in any game in program history. Named SAC Player of the Week a league-best three times, McCauley pulled down a career-high 18 rebounds on Feb. 29 against Anderson in the Railsplitters' 75-55 regular season finale. He is a Bevo Francis Award Top 50 watch list member for the nation's top player within Small College Basketball.
 
Leading the team in rebounding with an 8.0 average, Henry is averaging 13.9 points and 3.7 assists in 29.5 minutes per game. The Chesterfield, Virginia, (Lloyd C. Bird HS), native has been a triple-double threat seemingly every night and is one of LMU's most elite defenders ranked 15th in the country in steals with 64 on the season. Henry's 2.1 steals per game lead the conference and are 31st nationally, while his 7.0 defensive rebounds per game are 21st-most in all of NCAA Division II basketball. The 6-foot-6 swingman has posted a team-high eight double-doubles already in 2019-20 and reached double-figure scoring in 26 contests.
 
Of those who meet the NCAA's statistical minimums (five made per game), Whitfield leads the SAC and is among the top 100 players in Division II with a 53.1 percent shooting mark. He also is one of the top free-throw shooters in the league at 83.2 percent and is ranked in the top 30 in the nation in three-point shooting (44%). Whitfield's 2.97 threes per game are among the top 50 players nationally as his 92 total treys on the season are 33rd-most. The Lipscomb, Alabama (McAdory HS), native has knocked down four or more threes on 13 different occasions this season.
 
After transferring to LMU from fellow Division II Trevecca Nazarene in Nashville, Whitfield needed just one redshirt season before fitting comfortably within coach Schertz' offensive system. Scoring a then a season-best 31 points in a 113-76 road rout of Wingate, Whitfield notched his 1,000th career point in only 58 collegiate games played. The 6-foot-5 wingman is the Railsplitters' second-leading scorer (19.1 PPG) and has already amassed 591 points in 2019-20. Twice named SAC Player of the Week, Whitfield has turned in a team-leading five 30-point games, owns a team-best 18 20-point outings and has scored in double figures all but seven times.
 
One of the best point guards in the nation, Brown has been remarkable in his final collegiate season as LMU's floor general. His 3.41 assist/turnover ratio ranks 10th nationally while his 5.6 assists per game lead the conference and are the 27th-most in all of Division II hoops. Brown leads the SAC and is 21st in the country with 167 total assists while averaging 12.2 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. The Clermont, Florida (Lake Minneola HS), native and Indian River State Community College transfer is shooting 57.1 percent from the floor and 78 percent at the free-throw line.
 
Brown recorded only the second triple-double in school history on Feb. 15 in a 108-67 home win over Newberry by scoring 10 points, grabbing 10 rebounds and dishing out a career-high 13 assists. He has scored 20 points or more five times and reached double-figure scoring in 19 games. A Bevo Francis Award Top 100 watch list member, Brown has tallied double-digit assists in three contests this season.
 
Recently named Division II Bulletin/SNA Sports February Coach of the Month and HoopDirt.com NCAA Division II Coach of the Week, Schertz guided the Railsplitters to an unblemished SAC season for the third time in five years as LMU went a perfect 22-0. Under Schertz' leadership, the Railsplitters won their eighth SAC regular season title since 2010-11 on Feb. 12 with a 94-76 victory at UVA Wise.
 
Schertz-led LMU has the Railsplitters on the longest winning among all levels of college basketball with a program and SAC-record 30-straight victories. Sitting at 30-1, LMU has gone unscathed in 2020 (18-0) and is 17-0 inside Tex Turner Arena.
 
The Railsplitters own 12 conference championships, including four SAC Tournament crowns, over the last 10 seasons and are the only program in Division II to have reached 30 wins in five of the last six years. Furthermore, LMU is one of only four Division II basketball programs to have posted 20 wins or more for 11-straight seasons as the Railsplitters have made it to the 25-win mark in nine of the last 10 years.
 
How to Follow
Stay tuned to LMURailsplitters.com, as well as LMU's social media platforms - @LMURailsplitter on Twitter, @LMURailsplitters on Facebook and @lmurailsplitters on Instagram, for complete coverage of Railsplitter basketball throughout the 2020 postseason.
 
2019-20 South Atlantic Conference Men's Basketball All-Conference
 
First Team
Courvoisier McCauley, LMU
Daniel Carr, Queens
Devin Whitfield, LMU
Devin Cooper, Catawba
Ja'Shawn Brooks, Mars Hill
R.J. Gunn, Lenoir-Rhyne
 
Second Team
Quin Nottingham, Anderson
Shawn Benard, Anderson
Angelo Sales Jr., Newberry
Cameron Henry, LMU
Cameron Whiteside, UVA Wise
Anthony Brown, LMU
 
Honorable Mention
Marcell Haskett, Catawba
Jarren Cottingham, Wingate
Darius Simmons, Lenoir-Rhyne
Jamari Smith, Queens
Trenton Gibson, Tusculum
Van Turner Jr., Queens
 
All-Freshman
Crosby James II, Anderson
Gavin Rains, Queens
Cooper Fowler, Lenoir-Rhyne
Zim Field, Lenoir-Rhyne
Joshua Scott, Tusculum

Player of the Year
Courvoisier McCauley, LMU
 
Freshman of the Year
Crosby James II, Anderson
 
Defensive Player of the Year
Cameron Henry, LMU
 
Coach of the Year
Josh Schertz, LMU

Statistical Champions
Points Per Game – Cameron Whiteside, UVA Wise, 20.8
Three-Pointers Per Game – Van Turner Jr. Queens, 3.32
Rebounds Per Game – Angelo Sales Jr., Newberry, 8.7
Blocked Shots Per Game – Nassyr Daniel, Mars Hill, 2.21
Field Goal Percentage – Devin Whitfield, LMU, 52.4
Assists Per Game – Anthony Brown, LMU, 5.6
Assist-to-Turnover Ratio – Anthony Brown, LMU, 3.32
Steals Per Game – Cameron Henry, LMU, 2.17
Three-Point Field Goal Percentage – Luke Gibson, Newberry, 45.9
Free Throw Percentage – Austin Gilyard, Mars Hill, 88.5
Team Scoring Offense – LMU, 93.7
Team Steals – Tusculum, 268
Team Field Goal Percentage – LMU, 52.1
Team FG Percentage Defense – LMU, 37.2
Team Assists – LMU, 580
Team Rebounds – Tusculum, 1,223
Team Blocked Shots – LMU, 126
Team Three-Point FG Percentage – LMU, 41.5
Team Scoring Defense – LMU, 70.2
Team Free Throw Percentage – Mars Hill, 79.3
Team Assist-to-Turnover Ratio – LMU, 1.51