DALLAS – The 2018-19 Conference USA superlative awards have been announced, with players from four different schools being honored among the four awards.  WKU center Charles Bassey was named Freshman of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, Middle Tennessee junior forward Antonio Green was chosen Newcomer of the Year and Florida Atlantic graduate forward Xavian Stapleton shares the Sixth Player of the Year honor with sophomore guard LaDavius Draine of Southern Miss.  Voting on the awards was done by the C-USA head coaches and media members in each conference city.
 
Bassey is averaging 15 points, 9.9 rebounds and 2.4 blocks for the Hilltoppers’ while shooting 62.9 percent from the field.  The Lagos, Nigeria, native could become just the second Division I freshman since 1992 – along with Ohio State’s Greg Oden – to average at least 14 points, nine rebounds and two blocks while shooting at least 60 percent overall.  Bassey became just the ninth freshman in C-USA history to be named First Team All-Conference USA, and he is only the second to win Freshman of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year in the same season (Marshall’s Hassan Whiteside in 2010).  He is WKU’s first individual award winner since joining C-USA in 2014 and is the Toppers’ first Defensive Player of the Year since 2003-04 in the Sun Belt.  Bassey has been named one of the five finalists for the 2019 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award and is the only freshman to be named.  Bassey leads C-USA in double-doubles (15) and was named the conference’s Freshman of the Week 10 times, tying the league record set by Rice’s Marcus Evans in 2015-16.
 
Green, a transfer from University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV), has started all 31 games for Middle Tennessee this season, logging 16 games with 20 points or more and a pair of 30-point showings.  The native of Tupelo, Mississippi, places fifth in C-USA in scoring (18.3), second in free throw percentage (.874) and second in 3-point field goals made (104).  Green’s 104 3-PT FGM has shattered the MT single season record (previously 85) and he has moved up to ninth in school history in single season points (568).  His free throw percentage of .874 currently ranks fifth on the Blue Raiders single-season charts.
 
Stapleton, a graduate transfer from Mississippi State, has played a key role off the bench in the Owls’ first winning season in nearly a decade.  The Flora, Mississippi, native is third on the team in scoring at 13.2 per game, a figure that rises to 14.1 in league play.  Stapleton has led the team in scoring six times, is 16th in scoring (14.3) and 14th in three-pointers made (2.2 per game) in C-USA play despite playing just 22.4 minutes per game due to minutes restrictions following an injury that caused him to miss seven games earlier in the season.  He is the first FAU player to win an individual conference superlative award since 2011.
 
Draine has played in all 30 games for Southern Miss, coming off the bench to average 11.3 points (third on the team), while leading C-USA in three-point field goal percentage at .466 (69-of-148).  The Calhoun City, Mississippi, native has reached double-figure scoring 17 times, including 14 in conference play.  Draine posted a career-high 24 points in a win over UTEP on Feb. 16, going 7-of-9 from three-point range, the sixth-highest total of threes in Golden Eagle history.  He has committed just 11 turnovers in 686 minutes of action this season, while helping Southern Miss to its best record since 2013-14.
 
Conference USA will announce its 2018-19 Player of the Year and Gene Bartow Coach of the Year on Wednesday morning.  The 2019 Air Force Reserve C-USA Men’s Basketball Championship presented by Baylor Scott & White Sports Performance Center at The Star in Frisco tips off Wednesday at 6 p.m. CT. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit ConferenceUSA.com.