The Southeastern Lions earned the headlines of the Southland Conference postseason award show as Jaylin Hinton was named the Defensive Player of the Year and head coach David Kiefer was named the conference’s coach of the year.

SLU will now turn their attention to the Southland Conference Tournament at the Merrell Center in Katy, Texas where they will play in the semifinals Friday at 7:30 p.m. against an opponent to be determined.

Kiefer, in his third year as Lions’ head coach, doubled his career win total as he guided Southeastern (18-13, 10-4 Southland) to a double-bye in the Southland Conference Tournament.

The Lions were also 3-0 against Southland regular season champion Nicholls (21-10, 11-3 Southland) this season. Southeastern also led the league in offense scoring 83.07 points per game during Southland play.

Hinton led the Southland in blocked shots with 65 as he also earned a spot on the second team Monday. The Florida Southern transfer led the league in field goal percentage as he shot 71.8 percent (84-for-117) from the field. For the season, he shot 65.13 percent from the field which was second in the nation behind Purdue’s Zach Edey (66.67 percent). 

Hinton and Kiefer were joined by Gus Okafor and Keon Clergeot on the All-Southland Team. Okafor earned first team honors while Clergeot was named to the second team. 

Okafor was joined on the first team by Southland Player of the Year Nicholls’ Ty Gordon, Northwestern State’s Kendall Coleman and UNO’s Troy Green and Derek St. Hilaire.

Player of the Year: Ty Gordon, Nicholls

Defensive Player of the Year: Jalyn Hinton, Southeastern

Freshman of the Year: Johnathan Massie, McNeese

Newcomer of the Year: Isaac Mushila, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi

Coach of the Year: David Kiefer, Southeastern

2021-22 All-Southland Conference Men’s Basketball Teams