Lee tabbed Coach of the Year, seven players with All-Summit honors

USD men’s basketball coach Todd Lee was named Summit League Coach of the Year, and seven Coyote basketball players were named to all-Summit League teams Thursday afternoon. 

Lee led the Coyotes to the no. 2 seed in the Summit League with a 11-4 conference record and a 13-10 overall record. The Coyotes were picked fifth in the preseason Summit League poll.

Redshirt-Sophomore A.J. Plitzuweit was named the Summit League’s Newcomer of the Year after averaging 19 points per game, good for fourth in the Summit League. He was joined by teammate Stanley Umude on the all-Summit League first team. Umude was second in the conference in scoring this season, averaging 21.4 points per game. Plitzuweit was second in the conference in assists, with 3.9 per game, and Umude grabbed 6.9 rebounds per game.

Xavier Fuller found himself on the all-Summit honorable mention team, and Plitzuweit was also on the all-newcomer team. 

On the women’s side, Hannah Sjerven won Defensive Player of the Year for the second consecutive season. Sjerven led the conference with 52 blocks, and was fourth in steals with 33. Sjerven was joined by teammate Chloe Lamb on the first team all-Summit. Liv Korngable landed on the second team and freshman Maddie Krull on the all-newcomer team. 

Sjerven, Lamb and Korngable finished the season inside the top 10 in scoring, with Sjerven second (17.2 points per game), Lamb third (15.8) and Korngable seventh (14.5). Sjerven was also tops in the conference in rebounding, at 10 per game. Korngable recorded the best assist-to-turnover ratio in the conference this season at 2.1 assists per turnover.

Both Coyote basketball teams get their Summit League tournament started Saturday, with the Coyote women tipping off at 2:45 p.m. against Oral Roberts, and the men taking on Western Illinois at 8:45 p.m.