Hofstra's Jenkins Earns Second Straight CAA Player Of Year Honors

Friday, 04 March 2011 08:25

New York Sportsbeat Release (Photo: S. Grieco/NYSB)

Hofstra senior guard Charles Jenkins was named the Colonial Athletic Association Men's Basketball Player of the Year for the second year in a row in a vote of the league's coaches, sports information directors and media representatives, it was announced at the CAA annual awards banquet.

Jenkins, who received 41 Player of the Year votes (second place was two votes, and three others had one vote), is the seventh player in conference history to receive CAA Player of the Year honors in multiple seasons.

The senior guard tops the conference and ranks fourth in the nation in scoring with 23.2 ppg. He also leads the CAA in assists (4.8 apg) and is now the only player in Division I to lead his conference in scoring and assists. He is shooting 52.8 percent from the floor, the highest percentage of any player in the top 15 in the country in scoring, and the highest of any guard ranked in the top 100 (17.0 ppg and up).

Jenkins tallied 20 or more points 22 times, went over the 30-point plateau on four occasions and scored a career-high 40 points against Binghamton on Dec. 8. He finished the regular season on a 55-game double-digit scoring streak, which is the third-longest active streak in the nation. He scored less than 18 points only twice all year, when he had 15 points on 5-10 shooting against Nebraska on Nov. 21 and when he had 13 on 4-7 shooting against Holy Cross on Dec. 22.

Jenkins became Hofstra's all-time leading scorer on Jan. 29 and currently ranks second on the CAA's career scoring chart with 2,463 points, trailing only Hall of Famer David Robinson. He also ranks fifth in Hofstra history in assists, steals and three-pointers and is one of only two players to tally 2,000 points, 500 rebounds and 400 assists (along with Speedy Claxton).

The CAA Player of the Year award is the latest in a long line of honors for Jenkins, who was the CAA Rookie of the Year in 2008 and has received the Haggerty Award as the top player in Metropolitan New York for the past two seasons. He became the fifth Hofstra men's basketball player to have his jersey retired on Feb. 26 as part of Senior Day, when the Pride capped off the regular season with a 79-60 win over Delaware.

Senior forward Greg Washington was named to the All-Defensive team for the third year in a row. Washington ranks second in the CAA in blocks (69 in 30 games) and has the top three single-season blocked shot totals in school history. His 272 career blocks is a school record and ranks him fifth in CAA history.

Senior guard Brad Kelleher was chosen to the All-Academic first team, while Jenkins was named to the second team and sophomore guard Matt Grogan was an honorable mention selection.