ST. LOUIS – Southern Illinois guard Xavier Johnson continues to rake in the postseason accolades after being named First Team All-Missouri Valley Conference, the League office announced Wednesday night in St. Louis.
Johnson finished the regular season ranking fourth in the nation in scoring at 22.0 points per game. Along with his scoring, the guard also led the MVC in assists (6.1) and ranks sixth in steals per game (1.4).
Johnson joins Anthony Manuel of Bradley and Curt Smith of Drake as the only other players to lead the MVC in scoring and assists in a season. Only one other player in the last 30 years has averaged double-figure scoring with six or more assists per game — Reed Jackson of Evansville (1994-95) with 13.8 points and 6.0 assists.
The Germantown, Maryland, native has scored 30 or more six times to lead the MVC, and his 17 20-point games rank second-best in the MVC. He is 22nd nationally and leads the MVC with an 89.1 free throw percent.
He broke the SIU single-season assist record held by Bryan Mullins, currently with 189 assists this season. Johnson also broke the single-season record for free throws made (212) and is fourth in SIU history in single-season scoring with 658 points so far in 31 games.
Johnson was named the captain of the MVC Most Improved Team Tuesday.
