Feb. 19, 2003
FAIRFIELD, Conn. -- Sophomore forward Deng Gai (Sudan) earned a spot on the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) All-District I second team. The announcement was made this afternoon by the organization. The NABC selects 15 All-District teams based upon region, with ten players being selected to each district team (five first team, five second team). The teams were selected and voted on by member coaches of the NABC. The award was the second for Gai this week, as he also collected the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Player of the Week.
Gai currently leads the team in scoring with 13.1 points per game, and in rebounding with 6.6 caroms per contest. The sophomore has a team-high 72 blocks in 18 games, an average of 4.0 per game. If he had played in the NCAA minimum games (75 percent of games played by the team), he would place fourth in the nation for blocked shots. Gai has blocked five or more shots in nine games this season, including a season-high eight rejections against Manhattan.
The forward has been the team's leading scorer in six of his 18 games this year, including a career-high 24 points at Rider in January.
Gai now qualifies for All-America honors, which will be selected by at the end of the 2002-03 campaign. He is one of only five Metro Atlantic Athletic players to earn All-District honors.
2003 NABC Division I All-District Teams District 1 First Team Ben Gordon, Connecticut Troy Bell, Boston College Emeka Okafor, Connecticut Taylor Coppenrath, Vermont Craig Smith, Boston CollegeSecond Team Ryan Gomez, Providence Earl Hunt, Brown Tim Szatko, Holy Cross Deng Gai, Fairfield Tim Harvey, Harvard
