CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — The Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) announced today its major men's basketball awards and All-Conference team for the 2014-2015 season following a vote of the league’s coaches.

University of Dubuque junior forward Andre Norris (Plainfield, Ill. / Plainfield Central) has been selected as the league’s Most Valuable Player, headlining the 15-member All-Iowa Conference Team. In addition, University of Dubuque senior guard Brandon Ferguson (Gurnee, Ill. / Warren Township) was named IIAC Defensive Player of the Year honors and Buena Vista University’s Brian Van Haaften was tapped as the league’s top coach.

Iowa Conference Most Valuable Player – Andre Norris, University of Dubuque, Plainfield, Ill. / Plainfield Central
Norris averaged 20.4 points, 8.7 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 2.0 blocks and 1.8 steals in 28 games, leading the Spartans in scoring 17 times and rebounding 15 times while posting nine double-doubles. He led all IIAC players in scoring and blocked shots, ranked third in steals, fourth in defensive rebounding (7.36 per game), fifth in overall rebounding, sixth in 3-point field goal percentage (42.1 percent; 51-of-121) and seventh in field-goal percentage (51.3 percent; 192-of-374) and free-throw percentage (78.3 percent; 137-of-175).

He averaged 24.7 points, 8.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 3.0 blocks and 3.0 steals in three Iowa Conference tournament games as the Spartans won the league tournament title for the second time in three seasons and qualified for its sixth NCAA Championship. Norris enters the NCAA Tournament ranking 12th on UD’s career scoring list with 1,313 points.

In 14 Conference games, Norris averaged 21.2 points, 8.3 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.8 steals and 1.6 blocks, leading the IIAC in scoring and blocks and ranked second in steals, third in 3-pointers made (32), fifth in free-throw percentage (83.5 percent; 71-of-85), 3-point field-goal percentage (44.4 percent; 32-of-72) and defensive rebounding (6.93 per game), sixth in rebounding and minutes played (31.43 per game), ninth in field-goal percentage (48.5 percent; 97-of-200), 13th in offensive rebounding (1.36 per game) and 14th in assists. He scored 30 or more points in a game four times in IIAC play, including a team season-high 32 on three occasions (Jan. 7 vs. Central, Feb. 18 vs. Buena Vista, Feb. 21 vs. Luther). Norris averaged 30.7 points per game in three outings against Luther, which sported the league’s second-best scoring defense (67.8 ppg). Dubuque had the league’s best scoring defense.

Norris is the first Dubuque men’s basketball player to be named IIAC Most Valuable Player since Dave Crawford won the second of his two awards in 1991. Overall, he is the sixth UD men’s player to be named IIAC MVP, accounting for nine honors.

Iowa Conference Defensive Player of the Year – Brandon Ferguson, University of Dubuque, Gurnee, Ill. / Warren Township
Ferguson averaged 10.2 points, 3.9 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.0 steals and 0.3 blocked shots for the Spartans. He ranked 21st among IIAC players in scoring, 10th in free-throw percentage (74.7 percent; 65-of-87), 12th in steals, 16th in offensive rebounds (1.21 rpg) and 20th in minutes played (27.04 per game).

In league play, Ferguson averaged 8.7 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.1 steals. He ranked 23rd in the league in scoring, 10th in steals and 14th in field-goal percentage (43.4 percent; 49-of-113) and minutes played (27.86 per game).

Ferguson is the first Dubuque player to receive Iowa Conference Defensive Player of the Year honors.

Iowa Conference Coach of the Year – Brian Van Haaften, Buena Vista University
Buena Vista University head coach Brian Van Haaften has been named the 2014-2015 Iowa Conference Men's Basketball Coach of the Year. Van Haaften led Buena Vista to an 18-8 mark overall, captured the program’s 12th Iowa Conference title with an 11-3 record in league play and advanced to the Iowa Conference Tournament semifinals.

Under Van Haaften, Buena Vista led the conference in scoring offense (80.3 points per game), field goal percentage (47.6 percent), rebounding offense (42.4 rpg), rebounding margin (+6.8), assists (16.14 apg), assist-to-turnover ratio (+1.31) and defensive rebounds (31.64 rpg). The Beavers also ranked second in scoring margin (+7.5), rebounding defense (35.6 rpg), blocked shots (3.5 bpg) and offensive rebounds (10.79 rpg) and third in field goal percentage defense (40.7 percent) and 3-point field goal defense (32.0 percent) and 3-point field goals made (7.93 per game).

In his 19th season at Buena Vista, Van Haaften has gone 372-151 (.711) overall and 245-73 (.770) in IIAC play with nine Iowa Confererence titles. This is Van Haaften’s seventh IIAC Men’s Basketball Coach of the Year Award (1997, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2008) and the eighth for a Buena Vista coach (Bernie Weiss - 1975).

All-Iowa Conference Men’s Basketball Team
The IIAC also announced today the 2014-2015 Men’s Basketball All-Conference Team. The 15-member Team includes five repeat All-Conference performers including Norris, Buena Vista’s Cole Darrow, Dubuque’s Gage Heffernan, Loras’ Nathaniel Smith and Luther’s Jake Martin. Norris, Darrow and Smith were second-teamers in 2013 and first-teamers a year ago. Heffernan and Martin both jumped to the First Team after receiving Second Team honors last season.

Buena Vista’s Nick Clark and Central’s Nile Eckermann and Colby Taylor all received honorable mention last season, while Simpson’s Charles Swain sandwiched honorable mentions around a second-team all-IIAC pick last season.

Buena Vista, Coe and Dubuque led the way with three selections each, while Central and Wartburg each garnered two selections and Loras and Luther each had one.

The complete 2014-2015 All-Iowa Conference Men’s Basketball Team follows this release.

~~ www.iowaconference.com ~~