Erik Bacharach | Daily News Journal

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FRISCO, TEXAS — For the second straight year, the Conference USA Player of the Year is a Blue Raider. And for the umpteenth time in the last few days, Nick King has won another prestigious award.

"Being put in this situation is great," King said. "I’ve gone against a lot of great players in this league. I feel like Jon Elmore (22.8 points, 6.9 assists) is one of the best players in this league. The things that he’s done, I never thought that I’d win this award. I’m just humbled and I’m blessed."

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MTSU forward Nick King

King became the fourth Blue Raider in the last seven years to win the league player of the year award, joining LaRon Dendy (Sun Belt, 2012), Shawn Jones (C-USA, 2014) and JaCorey Williams (C-USA, 2017).

"I really believe that player of the year should come from the team that wins the regular season championship," MTSU coach Kermit Davis said. "I think the player of the year is the guy who impacts winning the most. Obviously Nick has impacted winning at a high level with us all year. In that regard, he is so deserving of that award."

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King, a graduate transfer and Memphis native, quickly emerged as MTSU’s main scoring threat. He ranks third in the conference with 21.2 points and fourth with 8.4 rebounds per game. He is the only player in the league to rank in the top five in both categories.

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On Saturday, he broke Kim Cooksey's single-season school scoring record (623), which had stood for 32 seasons. With 18 points against Marshall, King is up to 637 for the season.

A four-time C-USA Player of the Week and Karl Malone Award semifinalist, King has four 30-point games this season, matching the career record at MTSU despite playing in only one season.

King began his college career at Memphis, where he averaged 4.9 points as a freshman in 2013-14 and 7.2 points as a sophomore in 2014-15. He then transferred to Alabama — where he averaged 3.3 points last year but missed the majority of the season with a lung infection — before resurrecting his career at MTSU.