Moon Township, Pa. – Senior guard
Rodney Pryor of the
Robert Morris University men's basketball team was named to the 2016 All-Northeast Conference First Team in a vote of league head coaches it was announced Tuesday.
Pryor enters the 2016 NEC Tournament leading the Colonials in both scoring and rebounding, producing averages of 18.3 points and 8.0 rebounds per game. Those totals rank second and sixth, respectively, in the league. Pryor also ranks third in the circuit in free-throw percentage (.863), eighth in steals (1.43 per game), ninth in three-point field goals made per game (1.75) and tied for 14th in blocks (0.79).
On eight occasions this season Pryor has recorded a double-double, a total that is tied for fourth in the RMU single-season record book. He owns four of those in the last seven games entering Wednesday's NEC Tournament quarterfinal matchup at Wagner, a stretch in which Pryor has produced averages of 19.0 points and 9.9 rebounds per contest while shooting 44.4 percent (44-for-99) from the field and 91.9 percent (34-for-37) at the free-throw line.
In a 74-67 victory over LIU Brooklyn (2/18/16) at the Charles L. Sewall, Pryor became the 24th member of the Robert Morris 1,000-Point Club thanks to a pair of free throws with 37 seconds to play that helped seal the win. He finished with a game-high 24 points in the victory over the Blackbirds and became the second fastest player in school history to reach 1,000 career points, turning the trick in 60 games.
Pryor enters the 2016 NEC Tournament having reached double figures in scoring in 27 of the 28 games he's played this season as well as 37 of his last 38 contests dating back to last year. He owns career totals of 1,058 points and 388 rebounds to go along with 110 assists, 33 blocks and 81 steals.
Named the 2015 NEC Tournament MVP after leading the Colonials to their league-high eighth NEC Tournament crown and subsequent bid to the NCAA Tournament, it marks the second consecutive year Pryor was bestowed All-NEC plaudits. He was also named to the 2015 All-NEC Second Team.
Led by sixth-year head coach
Andrew Toole, Robert Morris enters the 2016 NEC Tournament as the No. 8 seed and will travel to Staten Island, N.Y., for a 7:00 p.m. tip Wednesday, March 2, against No. 1 seed Wagner at the Spiro Sports Center. The Colonials are making their 13th straight appearance in the NEC Tournament and have qualified for the tourney 32 out of a possible 35 times in league history.
