CLEVELAND—Senior forward Julian Mavunga (Indianapolis, Ind./Brownsburg) earned First-Team All-Mid-American Conference honors, while freshman guard Brian Sullivan (Upper Arlington, Ohio/Upper Arlington) was named to the MAC All-Freshman Team, the conference office announced Wednesday afternoon.
Mavunga's placement on the first team marks the ninth straight year Miami has had a player on the All-MAC First Team, the longest active stretch of any MAC men's basketball program.
Over the last nine years, Miami has had seven players earn a combined 10 first-team all-league honors. The RedHawks’ stretch dates back to the 2003-04 season when Juby Johnson was a first-team selection. Chet Mason and Danny Horace both earned the honor in 2005, followed by William Hatcher (2006), Tim Pollitz (2007 and 2008), Michael Bramos (2009), Kenny Hayes (2010) and Mavunga (2011 and 2012). Mavunga became the 34th player in program history to capture First-Team All-MAC plaudits last year.
This is the third All-MAC honor for Mavunga, who earned first-team honors as a junior and honorable mention accolades as a sophomore. He is the 11th player in program history to earn All-MAC honors three times in a career.
Mavunga was the only player in the MAC this season to rank among the top 15 in conference-only games in points (14.6, 7th), rebounds (8.2, 2nd) and assists (4.2, 8th). For the season, he averaged 16.4 ppg and 9.0 rpg, with his rebounding average leading the MAC and his scoring average ranking second. He also led the MAC in defensive rebounds, averaging 6.8 per game on the season. In all games and MAC-only games, Mavunga led the conference for the second straight year in minutes played. He also ranked among MAC statistical leaders in all games in assists, assist/turnover ratio, offensive rebounds, and free throw percentage. In MAC-only games, he also ranked among league leaders in defensive rebounds, offensive rebounds, assist/turnover ratio and free throw percentage.
This season, Mavunga notched 14 double-doubles and finished with 28 for his career. He scored 20 or more points six times this season and 14 times in his career. At Southeast Missouri on Nov. 26, he tied a career high with 27 points. He also set career highs for rebounds with 19 and assists with eight against Eastern Michigan on Feb. 1. His 19 boards and 13 made free throws against the Eagles were the most by a MAC player this season.
Mavunga’s 168 made free throws this season rank fourth on the RedHawks’ single-season list, while his 229 free throw attempts also rank fourth on the single-season charts.
He broke Miami’s career games played record, which previously stood at 122, by appearing in 124 games during his four years as a RedHawk. Mavunga missed just one game in his Miami career, which was due to injury during his junior campaign. He finished his Miami career ranked third in made free throws (444), third in free-throw attempts (632), sixth in rebounds (799), seventh in minutes played (3,602), ninth in blocked shots (72) and 13th in scoring (1,398).
Sullivan became the first Miami player since Josh Hausfeld in 2003 to be named to the MAC All-Freshman Team. He was one of the most lethal 3-point shooters in the country this season, ranking first in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage at one point.
According to the latest NCAA statistics, Sullivan ranked 47th in made 3-pointers per game and eighth in 3-point field goal percentage.
He knocked down 79 triples this season, which ranked second on Miami’s single-season charts, while his 44.9 shooting percentage from long range ranked eighth. Sullivan drained eight treys at Vanderbilt on Jan. 2, which tied for third on Miami’s single-game list and were the most by a MAC player this season and the most by a freshman in Miami history. He nailed six triples at Western Michigan on Jan. 28, which tied for 10th on Miami’s single-game list.
Sullivan led all MAC freshmen in scoring in conference play, averaging 11.9 ppg to rank 17th among all MAC statistical leaders, while leading all players in made 3-pointers per game (2.8) and ranking third in 3-point field goal percentage (.433) through 16 MAC games.
On the season, he ranked among MAC leaders in scoring (10.3 ppg, 27th), made 3-pointers (2.6, 2nd) and 3-point field goal percentage (.449, 2nd).
Sullivan, who was tabbed MAC Freshman of the Month in January, became the first Miami freshman since Damon Frierson in 1995-96 to average double-figures in scoring. He played in every game this season and made 12 starts for the RedHawks.
All-MAC First Team
Mitchell Watt, Buffalo
Javon McCrea, Buffalo
Justin Greene, Kent State
Julian Mavunga, Miami
D.J. Cooper, Ohio
All-MAC Second Team
Zeke Marshall, Akron
Alex Abreu, Akron
Jarrod Jones, Ball State
Austin Calhoun, Bowling Green
Rian Pearson, Toledo
All-MAC Third Team
Nikola Cvetinovic, Akron
Scott Thomas, Bowling Green
Trey Zeigler, Central Michigan
Darrell Lampley, Eastern Michigan
Michael Porrini, Kent State
Honorable Mention
Randal Holt, Kent State
Carlton Guyton, Kent State
Ivo Baltic, Ohio
Walter Offutt, Ohio
Curtis Dennis, Toledo
Flenard Whitfield, Western Michigan
All-Freshman Team
Aaron Adeoye, Ball State
Austin McBroom, Central Michigan
Brian Sullivan, Miami
Abdel Nader, Northern Illinois
Julius Brown, Toledo
