Houston Christian University's
Bryson Dawkins has been selected to the first team of the Southland Conference 2024-25 Men's Basketball All-Conference squads as announced by the league on Friday afternoon. Dawkins becomes the first HCU player to be named all-conference since Darius Lee after the 2021-22 season, and he is just the second first-team SLC selection in program history, joining Anthony Odunsi who was named after the 2015-16 season.
In his first season at HCU after transferring from Itawamba Community College, the southpaw wing has averaged 14.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 0.9 steals while playing 30.9 minutes per game. He shoots 44% from the floor and 33% from long range, and led the squad in total points and field goals made while coming in second with 58 three-pointers made so far this season. Dawkins was just recognized as SLC Player of the Week two weeks ago and finished the 31-game regular season slate second on the club in both scoring and rebounding.
The Dothan, Alabama native finished the regular season ranked fourth in the SLC in overall scoring and fifth in field goal percentage while placing 11
th in the league in made three-pointers. In conference only games, Dawkins was the SLC leader in scoring at 17.2 points per game.
In being named to the All-SLC first team, Dawkins lays claim to being just the second HCU player to earn that nod. He joins Anthony Odunsi, a 6'4 point guard from Travis High School, who was named to the first five in 2015-16. Odunsi averaged 17.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.7 assists that season to guide HCU to a 17-17 record and a berth in the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) while becoming the first two-time All-Southland selection in school history.
Seven 20-point outings came off Dawkins' left hand on the season, all of which came in conference play. The most recent of those was a career-high 41-point outburst against Stephen F. Austin in the home finale that helped clinch a postseason berth. In that contest, he set new single-game marks for field goals (16), field goals attempted (22), three-pointers attempted (11) and free-throws attempted (11). He also pulled down a career-best 10 boards on the evening to record the Huskies lone double-double of the campaign.
The 40-point game was the first of Dawkins' career and was the most points in a single game for HCU since the late Darius Lee matched the school single-game record with 52 points in the epic four-overtime 149-144 victory over McNeese in the 2022 regular season finale, just before he was selected to the All-Conference team. The 41-points by Dawkins also represented the second-most points scored in a single game during the 2024-25 campaign by a Southland player.
He was also involved in two of HCU's three games where two players combined for 50 points or more. The first came with
Julian Mackey when each scored 27 in a win at Southeastern, and then again when he and
D'Aundre Samuels (10 points) turned the trick in the home finale against SFA.
It is the first four-year postseason accolade for Dawkins, who spent his rookie collegiate campaign at the University of North Alabama. He was named with All-MACCC honors last year at Itawamba.
Dawkins and the Huskies (12-19, 9-11 SLC) will travel to Lake Charles, Louisiana on Sunday, where they will play Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (19-13, 12-8 SLC) in a first-round game at the Jersey Mike's Southland Conference Tournament. Tip-off at the Legacy Center on the campus of McNeese is slated for 5 pm, the first of two first rounds games on day one.
#DawgsUp
