Skidmore guards Rupkus and Meren continue to receive honors from NABC
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. >> The honors keep rolling in for Skidmore College senior guard Edvinas Rupkus and junior guard Noah Meren of the Skidmore College men’s basketball team.
The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) honors Rupkus as its East District Player of the Year on Wednesday, March 13. Rupkus and Meren earn spots on the NABC Coaches Division III All-District teams; Rupkus is named to the NABC All-East District First Team, while Meren is named to the second team.
Skidmore is the only team to have two players honored in the East District. Nationally, Skidmore joins Swarthmore, Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Nebraska Wesleyan, and Whitman as the only teams to have multiple players honored by the NABC.
Rupkus, a 2018 NABC All-
ican, is the first Skidmore player to receive the Player of the Year honor. He also received Player of the Year honors from D3hoops.com this past Tuesday. He earns a NABC district honor for the third year in a row.
Rupkus finished second on the team in scoring at 17.5 points and second in rebounding with 6.1 boards this season. He was one of the nation’s most efficient scorers, sitting 27th nationally in 3-point shooting percentage at 44.2 percent and 37th in free throw percentage at 87.4 percent. Early in the season, Rupkus became Skidmore’s all-time leading scorer, passing the mark set by Brian Culkin ‘01 (1,689). Against Hobart on Feb. 8, Rupkus became the first Skidmore player to score 2,000 career points. He finishes his brilliant career with 2,128 points in 110 career games and is one of 11 active NCAA division III players to record 2,000 points and 600 rebounds.
Meren, Liberty League First Team and D3hoops. com All-East Region honoree, earns his first NABC selection in 2019. Meren exploded onto the scene as a sophomore, leading the Liberty League with 21.3 points per game. He also leads the team in shooting percentage (.499), rebounds (6.6) and steals (1.6). Nationally, Meren is 34th in points per game, 34th in total points (577), 22nd in free throws made (147) and 33rd in field goals made (207). Meren tallied four double-doubles this season, including a career-high 39-point, 10-rebound explosion against Hartwick on Nov. 20.
“This is incredible honor for these two and for our program,” said Skidmore head coach Joe Burke. “This just shows how far we’ve come. For Ed this is the icing on what was one of the best Division III basketball careers in NCAA history. As for Noah, as a sophomore, he is just starting to scratch the surface. He will have a chance to be one best players in the country for the next two years. These guys would credit the teammates for all their success but they also work extremely hard and deserve the individual accolades. What makes this all the more impressive is that they both are outstanding students at a very difficult school.”
The Thoroughbreds (19-8) won the Liberty League title for the fifth time and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the sixth time in program history. Skidmore won 15 or more games for the ninth straight season.