Riley Named SBC Coach of the Year, Two Jags Receive All-Conference Honors
Posted on March 3, 2025 by South Alabama Athletics
NEW ORLEANS – Three days after bringing home a share of the Sun Belt regular season title, head coach Richie Riley was named Sun Belt Coach of the Year, and Barry Dunning Jr. and Myles Corey each earned All-Conference honors the league announced Monday.
After coming into the season ranked as the No.11 seed in the Sun Belt Preseason Coaches poll, Richie Riley guided the Jags to the first Sun Belt conference regular season championship in 17 years and Joe Gottfried Coach of the Year honors. South Alabama's 21 wins in the regular season are the most in Riley's time with the program and the most by any Jaguar team in the regular season since 2008. Under Riley's direction, South Alabama has picked up four wins over teams ranked inside the top 150 of the NET rankings this season and has turned the Jags into one of the most efficient and defensive-sound teams in the country this year. The Jaguars rank sixth in the country in field goal percentage defense (38.4), 17th in scoring defense (64.3), and 15th in steals per game (9.3). The Jags have excelled at minimizing fouls and converting defensive stops into scoring opportunities. South ranks seventh in the country in fouls per game (13.3), 17th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.59), sixth in turnover margin (4.9+), seventh in turnovers per game (9.2), and 45th in fastbreak points (13.2). The Jags also sit at the top of the Sun Belt in all five of these categories. Additionally, South has won four Sun Belt Conference games this season by 25 points or more. This marks the most 25-point victories by a USA squad in a season since 1998-99.
Junior forward Barry Dunning Jr. finished with first-team All-Sun Belt honors after averaging 14.7 points on 45.6 percent shooting from the field with 7.1 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game this year. Dunning has put up double figures in 25 out of 31 games this year, including 16 games in conference play with five double-doubles, and 17 games with seven or more rebounds this season. The Mobile, Alabama native has scored 15 points or more on 12 occasions and etched his name into history books several times this year. Dunning tallied the most points by any player in the Sun Belt this season twice this year. He recently scored the second most points in Sun Belt history and NCAA Division I Men's Basketball this season against Texas State. Dunning scored 34 points and 46 points in a span of three games and broke a 51-year-old single-game school record in points. He ranks 11th in scoring, ninth in rebounding, and ninth in field goal percentage. Barry received Player of the Week recently on Feb. 26 after averaging 30.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game in two road bouts last week.
Graduate student guard Myles Corey received third-team All-Sun Belt accolades after having a standout year for South Alabama. Corey averaged 13.8 points, 4.4 assists, 2.5 rebounds, and 1.5 steals per game while shooting 43.8 percent from the field. Corey has scored double figures 18 times this season and ranks fifth in the Sun Belt in 20-point games with six this year. Among Corey's best performances was a 20-point, 11-assist double-double in the season opener at Central Michigan which is one of only 10 double-digit assist performances this season in the conference. In total, Corey has tallied 136 assists this year, which ranks fifth in the Sun Belt and Top 100 in the country. Additionally, he stands 12th in the conference in points per game, and seventh in assist-to-turnover ratio (Avg: 1.7 A: 123 TO: 71). A Ontario, California native, Corey registered 20 or more points in five of his first 10 contests and put up 27 points on 7-of-8 shooting from three-point range most recently against Coastal Carolina.
2024-25 Sun Belt Conference Men's Basketball Postseason Awards
Player of the Year: Tayton Conerway, Troy
Defensive Player of the Year: Obinna Anochili-Killen, Marshall
Newcomer of the Year: Mark Freeman, James Madison
Freshman of the Year: Bryce Lindsay, James Madison
Sixth Man of the Year: Bryce Lindsay, James Madison
Joe Gottfried Coach of the Year: Richie Riley, South Alabama
All-Sun Belt First Team
Tayton Conerway, Troy
Barry Dunning Jr., South Alabama
Mark Freeman, James Madison
Myles Tate, App State
Taryn Todd, Arkansas State
All-Sun Belt Second Team
Obinna Anochili-Killen, Marshall
Cesare Edwards, Georgia State
Denijay Harris, Southern Miss
C.J. Huntley, App State
Tylan Pope, Texas State
All-Sun Belt Third Team
Myles Corey, South Alabama
Sean Durugordon, Old Dominion
Adante' Holiman, Georgia Southern
Bryce Lindsay, James Madison
Izaiyah Nelson, Arkansas State
Original article was posted by South Alabama Athletics
Click here to view the current issue of South Magazine