Polakovich and Simmons earn GLVC honors Henry honored with Sportsmanship Award

EVANSVILLE, Ind. –  University of Southern Indiana Men’s Basketball junior forward Jacob Polakovich (Grand Rapids, Michigan) and junior guard Jelani Simmons (Columbus, Ohio) were honored with All-Great Lakes Valley Conference post-season honors today. Polakovich was named first-team All-GLVC, while Simmons was selected for the league’s second team.
 
The All-GLVC honors are the first for Polakovich and Simmons.
 
Polakovich leads the Screaming Eagles by averaging a double-double with 11.6 points and 11.5 rebounds per game. The 11.5 rebounds per game ranks first in the GLVC and fourth nationally. The unanimous first-team All-GLVC pick has had 11 double-doubles and has reached a career-high 19 rebounds in a game twice (at Lindenwood University; versus Missouri University of Science & Technology).
 
Simmons earns second team honors after averaging a team-high 13.8 points per game, while grabbing 4.6 rebounds and dishing 1.8 assists per contest. The junior guard has reached double-digits in scoring in 20 of his 25 games this season and surpassed the 1,000 collegiate point plateau in the GLVC Tournament first round win over the University of Illinois Springfield (USI: 574 points; Youngstown State University: 430 points).
 
Sophomore guard Tyler Henry (Brooklyn, New York) was recognized with the GLVC Men’s Basketball James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award for USI. Henry is one of 15 players from around the league who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. The recipient of this honor also must be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting.
 
The Spalding Sportsmanship Award honorees are now eligible to become one of their school’s two Spalding Sportsmanship Award winners, which will be announced at the end of the academic year.
 
Polakovich, Simmons, Henry, and the Eagles (18-6) continue post-season play in the GLVC Tournamet Friday at 6 p.m. when they play the University of Missouri-St. Louis at the First Community Arena on the campus of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in Edwardsville, Illinois. USI is the fifth seed in the league playoff, while UMSL is the fourth seed.
 
The GLVC Tournament continues Saturday with the semifinals at 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. and Sunday for the championship game at 3:30 p.m.