March 7, 2011
LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - UNLV men's basketball senior Tre'Von Willis and juniors Oscar Bellfield and Chace Stanback were all recognized as part of the All-Mountain West Conference awards announced by the league on Monday.
Willis, a 6-4 guard from Fresno, Calif., was selected to the All-MWC second team, while Bellfield, a 6-2 guard from Los Angeles, and Stanback, a 6-8 guard/forward also from Los Angeles, were both named to the third team.
This year marks the second straight year for all three players to be mentioned as all-conference honorees, which are selected by the league's nine head coaches along with a selected media panel. Last year, Willis was named to the first team, while Stanback was third team and Bellfield was honorable mention.
UNLV, which finished the regular season with a 23-7 overall record and an 11-5 mark in conference play, is the No. 3 seed for this week's MWC Tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center. The Runnin' Rebels will face No. 6 seed Air Force in a quarterfinal matchup on Thursday, March 10 at 8:30 p.m.
Willis led the Runnin' Rebels in scoring and finished seventh in the MWC in conference-only games with 14.5 ppg. He was second in steals with 1.7 spg, third in free-throw percentage (.839), fifth in assists with 3.8 apg and eighth in 3-point field goal percentage (.358) and 3-point field goals made (1.7 per game). He was also 10th in the league in assist/turnover ratio (1.5). Willis started 11 of the 14 conference games that he played in and scored in double figures in 10 games, including each of his last three and seven of the last eight. He scored 20 or more points on three occasions and made at least one 3-pointer in 12 contests.
Bellfield started all 16 of UNLV's conference games and ranked sixth in the league in 3-point field goals made with 1.8 per game. He was seventh in assist/turnover ratio (1.9), 10th in assists with 3.4 apg and was 20th in scoring with 10.9 ppg. He scored in double figures in 11 league games, including each of the last four and six of the last seven. He made at least one 3-pointer in 11 games and three or more six times, including each of the last four games.
Stanback also started all 16 league games, was fourth in the league in field-goal percentage (.468), sixth in rebounding with 6.1 per game and 11th in scoring with 12.4 ppg. He scored in double figures in 10 games league games, including a streak of seven straight at one point. He had two games of 20 or more points and made at least one 3-pointer in 10 games.
The first team was made up of BYU's Jimmer Fredette, Colorado State's Andy Ogide, New Mexico's Dairese Gary, and San Diego State's D.J. Gay and Kawhi Leonard. Joining Willis on the second team were BYU's Jackson Emery, New Mexico's Drew Gordon, San Diego State's Malcolm Thomas and Utah's Will Clyburn. In addition to Bellfield and Stanback, the third team consisted of Air Force's Michael Lyons, BYU's Brandon Davies and TCU's Hank Thorns.
Honorable mention went to Air Force's Tom Fow and Evan Washington, BYU's Noah Hartsock, Colorado State's Travis Franklin, New Mexico's Kendall Williams, San Diego State's Billy White, Utah's Josh Watkins and Wyoming's Desmar Jackson and Amath M'Baye.
The All-Defensive Team was made up of Emery, Utah's David Foster, Gary, Leonard and Thomas.
The Player of the Year in the conference went to Fredette, while the Newcomer of the Year went to Gordon, Defensive Player of the Year was awarded to Emery, Freshman of the Year went to Williams, Sixth Man of the Year went to Colorado State's Pierce Hornung and Coach of the Year was shared by BYU's Dave Rose and San Diego State's Steve Fisher.
