Spicer Named MAC Defensive Player of the Year
3/8/2016 4:06:00 PM | Men's Basketball
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Kent State senior center Khaliq Spicer has been named Mid-American Conference Defensive Player of the Year, the league office announced Tuesday (March 8) afternoon. Spicer received All-Defensive Team honors when the all-conference teams were released on Monday.
This is the sixth time a Golden Flash has earned the award in its 20-year history. Spicer joins Demetric Shaw (2001, 2002), John Edwards (2004), Haminn Quaintance (2008) and Michael Porrini (2011) as Kent State's honorees.
"This is a well-deserved honor for Khaliq," said head coach Rob Senderoff. "He has been selflessness throughout his four years at Kent State and has done a terrific job of anchoring our defense. He will go down as one of the best shotblockers in school history and has worked extremely hard to improve on the offensive end as well, which seems to get overlooked. Khaliq is a terrific young man and a great representative of Kent State Athletics."
The premier shotblocker in the conference, Spicer averaged a league-best 1.68 blocks per game and pulled down 6.1 rebounds per game. In a game at Ball State on January 19, he swatted a Kent State record seven shots, which helped him earn MAC East Division Player of the Week accolades. He blocked at least one shot in 25 of 32 games this season.
Spicer's 163 career rejections rank second all-time at Kent State and is 15th in MAC history. His career-best 56 blocked shots this year are the third-most in single-season history. Spicer is the only Golden Flash ever to have multiple 50-block seasons and owns three of the top seven marks on the single-season list.
