All-Star Howard also named All-American

CONWAY — University of Central Arkansas senior guard Jordan Howard was recently named to the Lou Henson All-America team.

The Lou Henson All-America team is named for the former coach who retired in 2005 as the sixth-winningest coach in Division I with 779 victories. Henson is the winningest coach at both Illinois and New Mexico State and is one of only 12 coaches to take two schools to the NCAA Final Four.

The Lou Henson Award, which is awarded annually to the top Division I mid-major player, was announced on Monday in San Antonio at the Final Four. CollegeInsider.com presented this year’s award to Clayton Custer, a redshirt junior for Loyola-Chicago.

The National Association of Basketball Coaches All-Star game, held in conjunction with the NCAA Tournament Final Four, was held Friday at the Alamodome in San Antonio. Jordan led the East team in points with 17 in a 94-94 loss to the West. He shot 7-for-13 from the field, made 3 of 9 3-point attempts, grabbed four rebounds and also made three assists.

Howard was the Southland Conference Player of the Year and recently became the back-to-back recipient of the conference’s men’s basketball Student-Athlete of the Year award.

The native of Chandler, Ariz., led the nation in total points with 880, was third in points per game at 25.1, second in field goals made, ninth in free throws made, 12th in three pointers made, 16th in in three pointers made per game and 21st in free throw percentage this season. He helped the Bears win a Division I-best 18 games and win two postseason games for the first time since moving to D-I in 2006-07.

Howard also set Southland records for career 3-pointers made with 386 and career free throw percentage mark at .868. He set school and state Division I career records for 3-pointers and points and also set school records for season 3-pointers with 111 and season points with 880. Howard was the active career scoring leader in the NCAA and was second in 3-pointers.