Rock Hill, S.C. – Winthrop redshirt junior forward
D.J. Burns Jr. has been voted the 2021-22 Big South Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year as the league office announced its annual awards Tuesday morning.
Burns Jr. was voted to the All-Conference First Team while teammate
Patrick Good was voted All-Conference Honorable Mention.
This is the fourth time in the last six seasons an Eagle earned Player of the Year honors. Burns Jr. joins
Chandler Vaudrin (2020-21), Xavier Cooks (2017-18), Keon Johnson (2016-17), Greg Lewis (2001-02) and Fred McKinnon (1985-86) as Winthrop players to garner the Player of the Year award. Burns Jr. leads the Eagles in scoring at 15.3 ppg and leads the Big South in field goal percentage (.635) which ranks 6
th in the nation. He posted 20 or more points in eight games this season including a career-high 30 points in the season-opener.
It is the third straight season Burns Jr. has been named all-conference. Burns Jr. is just the 5
th player at Winthrop to earn all-conference at least three times. He is the first Winthrop player to win both the Big South Freshman of the Year and Player of the Year honors. Burns Jr. also reached 1,000 career points this season, becoming the 5
th Eagle to do so before their senior season.
Good is second on the team in scoring at 11.6 ppg and leads the team with 32 steals. Good is one of the top shooters behind the arc in the country this season ranking second in the league with 2.7 threes per game and 5
th in the NCAA. Good posted three 30-point games on the year with the first one coming Nov. 22 at Washington State as he connected on 11-of-19 three-point attempts. His 11 threes in a single-game are tied with two other players for the most in a game this season. He then scored 31 points at Presbyterian College and 30 points in the win at UNC Asheville.
On Jan. 22 against Gardner-Webb he surpassed 1,000 career points and heading into the Big South Tournament has 275 career triples. Provided a number of clutch shots for the Eagles starting with a three with 10 seconds left to force overtime in the win over Mercer. Jan. 26 at USC Upstate the Eagles trailed by 5 points with 48 seconds left as he hit a three to make it a two point game and then trailing by three he hit a triple with 1.7 seconds remaining to force overtime. On the year he had eight games with four or more made threes in a game.
Junior guard
Russell Jones Jr. was named to the Big South All-Academic Team. Jones Jr. was once again played a key role off the bench this season averaging 4.9 ppg, 2.0 rpg and 1.8 apg and is second on the team with 29 steals (tied for team-best 15 steals in league play). Jones Jr. had a season-high 19 points at Washington State and also had 15 points in the win over Mercer.
Winthrop is the #2 seed for the 2022 Hercules Tires Big South Conference Championship and will be in action on Friday, Mar. 4 at 6 p.m. in the quarterfinals. The Eagles will play the winner between #7 High Point and #10 Hampton, which will be played Wednesday, Mar. 2 at 6 p.m.
