Rock Hill, S.C. – The Big South Conference announced its annual men's basketball awards Monday evening and Winthrop's D.J. Burns Jr. was voted as the Big South Freshman of the Year while as a whole the team garnered six honors.

Burns Jr. also earned All-Big South second team honors and was joined on the second team by Chandler Vaudrin. Hunter Hale also earned All-Big South Honorable Mention honors. It is the first time since 2015-16 the Eagles had three players earn all-conference honors.

For just the third time in program history, a Winthrop player was voted as the league's top rookie. Burns Jr. enters the conference tournament ranked second on the team in scoring at 12.2 ppg and averaged 13.2 ppg in conference games. He leads the conference in field goal percentage (.585) and is 19^th in scoring. Burns Jr. has 19 double-figure games including a career-high 23 points in the win at Charleston Southern. He's the Winthrop player to earn freshman of the year honors since Tyrone Walker did so in 2000-01. Tyson Waterman in 1995-96 is the only other Eagle to earn the honor.

Vaudrin averages 9.3 ppg, 5.9 rpg and 5.9 apg while also leading the team in steals. Vaudrin is coming off a career-best 15 assists in the win over High Point on Feb. 29, his third game with 10 or more assists this season. His 177 assists on the year currently rank 4^th at Winthrop in a single-season, just seven away from the second most (Rick Riese / 1978-79). Vaudrin didn't start the first four games of the season, yet led the team in assists per game during that stretch (5.5 per game). In conference play, Vaudrin averaged 9.5 ppg, 6.2 apg and 6.1 rpg. In the league opener against Longwood, Vaudrin posted a triple-double with 10 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists.

Hale leads the team in scoring at 13.3 ppg and in conference play at 15.4 ppg. Hale is coming off his fourth 20-point game of the season in the win over High Point and has 22 double-figure games on the year. Surpassed 1,300 points in his career this season, passed 200 three-pointers and assists. In the league opener against Longwood he posted a career-high 29 points. His 74 threes on the year ties for 11^th in program history for threes made in a single-season. Hale averaged 17.2 ppg on the year against the other three teams in the Top 4 of the league standings (Radford/Gardner-Webb/Longwood).

Junior Kyle Zunic was named to the Big South Conference All-Academic Team. It is just the fourth time the Eagles have had three all-conference selections in the same season.

First-Team All-Conference Carlik Jones, G, R-Jr., Radford Jermaine Marrow, G, Sr., Hampton Ben Stanley, F, R-Soph., Hampton Phlandrous Fleming Jr., G/F, Jr., Charleston Sou. Travis Fields Jr., G, Sr., Radford	Second-Team All-Conference DeVon Baker, G, Soph., UNC Asheville Nate Johnson, G, R-Jr., Gardner-Webb Chandler Vaudrin, G, R-Jr., Winthrop DJ Burns Jr., C, R-Fr., Winthrop Eric Jamison Jr., G, R-Sr., Gardner-Webb	Honorable Mention All-Conference Hunter Hale, G, Gr., Winthrop LJ Thorpe, F., Jr., UNC Asheville Cory Hightower, F, Soph., Presbyterian Jaheam Cornwall, G, Jr., Gardner-Webb John-Michael Wright, G, Fr., High Point
All-Freshman Team DJ Burns Jr., C, Winthrop John-Michael Wright, G, High Point Tommy Bruner, G, USC Upstate Kareem Reid, F, Gardner-Webb Travis Anderson, G, Charleston Sou.	All-Academic Team Cory Gensler, G, Sr., Campbell Eric Jamison Jr., F, R-Sr., Gardner-Webb Caden Sanchez, F, R-Soph., High Point Sean Flood, G, Sr., Longwood JC Younger, G, Sr., Presbyterian College Chyree Walker, F, R-Soph., Radford Jax Levitch, F, R-Jr., UNC Asheville Nevin Zink, C, Soph., USC Upstate Kyle Zunic, F, Jr., Winthrop	Player of the Year Carlik Jones, G, R-Jr., Radford Freshman of the Year DJ Burns Jr., C, R-Fr., Winthrop Defensive Player of the Year Phlandrous Fleming Jr., G/F, Jr., Charleston Sou. Coach of the Year Mike Jones, Radford Scholar-Athlete of the Year Cory Gensler, G, Sr., Campbell