Haws, Collinsworth, Carlino and Mika receive WCC honors

Visit WCCsports.com for more on the All-WCC teams

SAN BRUNO, Calif. – The West Coast Conference announced its 2013-14 men’s basketball awards today and BYU junior guard Tyler Haws has been named the Player of the Year.

In addition to Haws being named the Player of the Year, he earned All-WCC First Team honors along with sophomore guard Kyle Collinsworth. Junior guard Matt Carlino was named an honorable mention selection and forward Eric Mika was named to the WCC All-Freshman Team. Conference honors are based on league games only.

BYU coach Dave Rose on the honorees

“Tyler is very deserving of this honor. He’s had huge offensive games, he’s had an increased role defensively and he does so much to help us win games. To be the guy that everyone tries to stop every night and to be as consistent as he’s been certainly deserves this type of recognition.”

“Kyle’s consistency in his line and what he does to affect the game as far as winning is concerned has been huge for us. He rebounds the ball, gets steals and assists and guards the toughest perimeter player. I’m pleased that the other coaches in the league have noticed his impact on the game.”

“Matt has had a great junior season. He’s really embraced the sixth-man role. He’s shooting a higher percentage from the 3-point line than he has in his career and overall he’s been terrific.”

“As a coaching staff, we’re really pleased with what Eric has given us this year. He’s been a really big part of our success and has really grown as a player. Being on the all-freshman team is a terrific honor.” 

For the second-straight season, Haws was the WCC’s leading scorer at 23.5 points per game, 5.1 points more than the second-leading scorer. He topped 20 points 10 times during league play and 30 points five times. In addition to leading the WCC in scoring, he was fifth in free throw percentage (.870), 3-point field goal percentage (.460) and minutes played (34.3) and 15th in field goal percentage (.480).

A repeat first-team All-WCC honoree, Haws was a two-time player of the week during the conference season. He led the Cougars to a tie for second in the league standings at 13-5 and the No. 2 seed in the WCC Championships.

Haws is the fourth Cougar to earn conference player of the year accolades under Dave Rose. Keena Young was the Mountain West Conference Player of the year in 2007, Lee Cummard was the MWC’s top player in 2008 and Jimmer Fredette was the MWC Player of the Year in 2011.

In his first season since returning from a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Russia, Collinsworth proved to be one of the most versatile players in the WCC this season. In league games, he was 13th in the WCC in scoring (14.1 points per game), fifth in rebounding (7.6 rebounds per game), fourth in assists (4.6 assist per game) and first in steals (2.1 steals per game). Collinsworth also ranked among the top 10 in assist/turnover ratio (10th), offensive rebounds (third), defensive rebounds (tied-ninth) and field goal percentage (ninth).

Carlino, an All-WCC honorable mention in 2012 as a freshman, averaged 12.6 points, 4.6 assists, 1.7 steals and 2.2 threes per game as BYU’s sixth man during league play. He finished sixth in the league in assists, third in steals, 11th in 3-point field goal percentage, fourth in 3-point field goals per game and first in assist/turnover ratio.

Mika earned his spot on the All-WCC Freshman Team by averaging 10.4 points and 5.9 rebounds and shooting .537 from the field. He finished among the top 10 in the league in field goal percentage (fourth) and offensive rebounds per game (seventh).

WCC Honors

Player of the Year: Tyler Haws, BYU
Defender of the Year: Brendan Lane, Pepperdine
Newcomer of the Year: Jared Brownridge, Santa Clara
Coach of the Year: Rex Walters, San Francisco

2013-14 WCC Men’s Basketball Honorable Mention Selections

Jared Brownridge, Santa Clara; Matt Carlino, BYU; Brandon Clark, Santa Clara; Tony Gill, Pacific; Avry Holmes, San Francisco; Przemak Karnowski, Gonzaga; Brendan Lane, Pepperdine; Ryan Nicholas, Portland; Kruize Pinkins, San Francisco; Thomas van der Mars, Portland