BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Mid-South Conference officials announced the 2025-26 All MSC Men's Basketball teams and individual award winners on Friday.
Lindsey Wilson's (Ky.) Kenyata Carbon is the MSC Men's Basketball Player of the Year, Freed-Hardeman's (Tenn.) Rico Sain is the Randy Vernon Defensive Player of the Year, and Cumberland's (Tenn.) Michael Nwoye is the MSC Freshman of the Year.
Mid-South Conference head coaches selected the individual awards and all-conference teams by vote. Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own players.
The Freed-Hardeman coaching staff swept the conference coach of the year awards. Drew Stutts was voted by his peers as the MSC Head Coach of the Year, while Grant Burns was picked as the MSC Assistant Coach of the Year.
Carbon led the Mid-South Conference, averaging 3.9 assists per game and ranked second in scoring, at 19 points per outing. He shot 58.9 percent (185-of-314) from the field and 36.8 percent (39-of-106) from beyond the 3-point arc. Carbon also averages five rebounds and was second in the MSC with 2.3 steals per game.
Carbon earned MSC Offensive Player of the Week a conference-best six times this season.
Sain leads the Mid-South in steals per game (2.4) and total steals (66). He started all 28 games this season for a Freed-Hardeman team that finished the regular season allowing just 61.4 points per game -- second in the NAIA. Sain is a three-time MSC Defensive Player of the Week -- tied for the most this season.
Nwoye averaged 12.4 points per game while leading the Mid-South in rebounding at 8.3 per contest. He also averaged 1.5 steals and 1.5 blocks per game. Nwoye earned offensive and defensive player of the week once this season.
Stutts and Burns led Freed-Hardeman to a perfect regular season in 2025-26 -- the first since the 2007-08 season. The Lions enter the conference tournament with a 27-1 record, including a 24-game winning streak. Freed-Hardeman is ranked No. 1 in the NAIA Men's Basketball Coaches' Top-25 Poll.
Carbon and Sain lead the 10-man All Mid-South Conference First Team. Joining Carbon and Sain on the first team by Campbellsville's (Ky.) Dalton Kramer, Cumberland's Triston Conger, Cumberlands' (Ky.) Kyle Duke and Andrew McConnell, Freed-Hardeman's Blake Dean and Phil Horton, and Georgetown's (Ky.) Darien Lewis and Isaiah Mason.
Nwoye leads the 5-man All Mid-South Conference Second Team. He is joined by Bethel's (Tenn.) Chauncey Hughes III, Cumberlands' Brant Smithers, Georgetown's Aden Nyekan, and Lindsey Wilson's Mihail Gavazov.
The Mid-South Conference Men's Basketball Tournament begins on Saturday, February 28, at Bowling Green Arena.
2025-26 Mid-South Conference Men’s Basketball First Team
|
Name
|
School
|
Pos.
|
Yr.
|
Hometown
|
|
Kenyata Carbon
|
Lindsey Wilson (Ky.)
|
G
|
JR
|
Owensboro, Ky.
|
|
Triston Conger
|
Cumberland (Tenn.)
|
G
|
JR
|
Hendersonville, Tenn.
|
|
Blake Dean
|
Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.)
|
G
|
SO
|
Nashville, Tenn.
|
|
Kyle Duke
|
Cumberlands (Ky.)
|
G
|
SR
|
Toronto, Ontario
|
|
Phil Horton
|
Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.)
|
F
|
GR
|
Memphis, Tenn.
|
|
Dalton Kramer
|
Campbellsville (Ky.)
|
G
|
JR
|
Hebron, Ky.
|
|
Darien Lewis
|
Georgetown (Ky.)
|
G
|
SR
|
Louisville, Ky.
|
|
Isaiah Mason
|
Georgetown (Ky.)
|
G
|
SR
|
Bowling Green, Ky.
|
|
Andrew McConnell
|
Cumberlands (Ky.)
|
G
|
SR
|
Buford, Ga.
|
|
Rico Sain
|
Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.)
|
G
|
SR
|
Jackson, Tenn.
|
2025-26 Mid-South Conference Men’s Basketball Second Team
|
Name
|
School
|
Pos.
|
Yr.
|
Hometown
|
|
Mihail Gavazov
|
Lindsey Wilson (Ky.)
|
F
|
FR
|
Sofia,Bulgaria
|
|
Chauncey Hughes III
|
Bethel (Tenn.)
|
G
|
SR
|
Cairo, Ill.
|
|
Aden Nyekan
|
Georgetown (Ky.)
|
G
|
JR
|
Glasgow, Ky.
|
|
Michael Nwoye
|
Cumberland (Tenn.)
|
F
|
FR
|
Antioch, Tenn.
|
|
Brant Smithers
|
Cumberlands (Ky.)
|
G
|
JR
|
Williamstown, Ky.
|