UNCG’s Kobe Repeats as SoCon Defensive Player of the Year; Keyshaun & Brown-Jones Earn All-Conference Honors
SoCon Announces Men’s Basketball Postseason awards
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The UNC Greensboro (UNCG) men’s basketball team saw one major award from The Southern Conference (SoCon), while also earning four All-Conference honors, announced by the league office on Wednesday.
Kobe Langley(Southwest Guilford High School) was recognized as the Defensive Player of the Year. This is his second-straight SoCon Defensive Player of the Year award. This is the Spartans’ sixth time earning the recognition in seven years, as Isaiah Miller earned it three times (2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21) and James Dickey earned the award in 2017-18.
Kobe was also named to the All-SoCon Third Team and the All-Defensive Team after his performance in the 2023-24 season.
In the nation, he is ranked 11th in steals (71), 15th in steals per game (2.29), 18th in assists (178), 24th in assist/turnover ratio (2.97), 27th in assists per game (5.7). He is leading the conference in assists, assists per game, steals, and steals per game.
He had a career-best six steals twice this season, including versus Delaware and at Wofford. This season he reached the 400-career assists milestone on February 8 against Samford. The High Point, N.C. native also reached the 200-career steals milestone on February 17 against Wofford.
Mikeal Brown-Jones was tabbed to the All-SoCon First Team, while Keyshaun Langley(Southwest Guilford High School) earned a spot on the All-SoCon Second Team.
Brown-Jones is second in the conference with a 55.3 field goal percentage, 191 free-throw attempts, 151 free throws, and a 19.3 points per game average. Throughout the regular season, he has recorded six double-doubles and earned a career-high of 39 points on two occasions. His 39 points is now the fourth most during a single game, according to the UNCG men’s basketball record book.
The North Philadelphia, Pa., native, recorded over 20 points in 10 games this season. He leads the Spartans in multiple categories, including points per game, field goals (172), free throws (151), rebounds (206), rebounds per game (7.6), blocks per game (0.74), and blocks (20). Brown-Jones was named the SoCon Player of the Week on two occasions this season. Brown-Jones reached the 1,000-career points milestone this season after scoring 26 against VMI on February 28 at home. He is nationally ranked 29th in free throws, 38th in free throw attempts, and 50th in points per game.
Keyshaun is pacing the SoCon with a 42.8 three-point percentage. He earned a career high of 30 points in the team’s win over Furman on Feb. 4. In addition, he recorded a career high of eight free throws at Mercer on Feb. 24. The High Point, N.C. native was named the SoCon Player of the Week twice throughout the season. Keyshaun is nationally ranked 13th in three-point percentage (42.8), 53rd in total three-point field goals made (80), and 63rd in three pointers per game (2.67).
He is currently second on the team, averaging 15.6 points per game, 1.4 steals per game, 3.3 assists per game, 2.7 three pointers per game. This season, Keyshaun reached the 1,500-career points milestone on February 8. He also reached the 200-career steals milestone on February 14 in a victory over The Citadel.
The Spartans are set to play in a quarterfinal matchup in the 2024 SoCon Tournament at Harrah’s Cherokee Center in Asheville, N.C. on Saturday, March 9 at 2:30 p.m. against the winner of No. 7 ETSU and No. 10 VMI on ESPN+ and Nexstar affiliates. The Spartans, who turned in their second straight 20-win season at 21-10 overall and 12-6 in SoCon play, split with their games during the season with ETSU and won both games versus VMI. UNCG will be looking for its first conference tournament title since 2021.
All-Southern Conference Men’s Basketball Teams
Malcolm U. Pitt Player of the Year
Vonterius Woolbright, Sr., G, Western Carolina
Newcomer of the Year
Rylan Jones, Gr., G, Samford
Sixth Man of the Year
Jan Zidek, Gr., F, Chattanooga
Defensive Player of the Year
Kobe Langley, Gr., G, UNCG
Anton Foy Coach of the Year
Bucky McMillan, Samford
First team
JP Pegues, Jr., G, Furman
Mikeal Brown-Jones, Sr., F, UNCG
Achor Achor, Jr., F, Samford
Trey Bonham, Sr., G, Chattanooga
Vonterius Woolbright, Sr., G, Western Carolina
Second team
Marcus Foster, Sr., G, Furman
Jalyn McCreary, Sr., F, Mercer
Keyshaun Langley, Gr., G, UNCG
Honor Huff, So., G, Chattanooga
Corey Tripp, Jr., G, Wofford
Third team
Jaden Seymour, Jr., F, ETSU
Kobe Langley, Gr., G, UNCG
Rylan Jones, Gr., G, Samford
A.J. Staton-McCray, Jr., G, Samford
Sam Alexis, So., F/C, Chattanooga
All-Defensive team
Quentin Millora-Brown, Gr., F, The Citadel
Jadyn Parker, Jr., F, ETSU
Kobe Langley, Gr., G, UNCG
A.J. Staton-McCray, Jr., G, Samford
Sam Alexis, So., F/C, Chattanooga
Denise Archetto
Assistant Athletic Director For Strategic Communications
UNC Greensboro