HAMMOND, La. – Southeastern Louisiana's Pape Diop was named to the 2020 Southland Conference All-Academic men's basketball team, the league office announced Tuesday afternoon.
                                  
Diop (6-9 205), a junior majoring in General Studies, finished the semester with a 3.0 GPA and currently has a 3.11 cumulative GPA.
 
The Ziguinchor, Senegal native played in 29 of the Lions' 31 games this past season with 28 starts. The forward was second on the team in points and rebounds averaging 11.0 and 5.3 rebounds per contest. Diop posted a career-high 25 points on 10-for-13 shooting in a 79-74 win over SUNO.
 
Joining the Lion's forward on the All-Academic team were Houston Baptist's Ian Dubose, Lamar's V.J. Holmes, UCA's Hayden Koval, and Abilene Christian's Payten Ricks and Joe Pleasant on first team. The second team included Diop, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi's Elijah Schmidt, Northwestern State's C.J. Jones, UIW's Des Balentine and McNeese's Roydell Brown.
 
2020 Academic All-Southland Men's Basketball Team
 
First Team
                                   
                                    Class               School             GPA
 
Ian Dubose2^                Jr.                     HBU               3.84
V.J. Holmes                  Sr.                    Lamar             3.00
Hayden Koval2              Jr.                     UCA               3.85
Joe Pleasant                 So.                   ACU               3.29
Payten Ricks1              Sr.                    ACU               3.00
 
Second Team
                                   
                                    Class               School             GPA
 
Des Balentine              Jr.                    UIW                3.31
Roydell Brown             Sr.                    McNeese        3.05
Pape Diop                   Jr.                    SLU                3.11
C.J. Jones                  Jr.                     NW State        3.32
Elijah Schmidt            Sr.                    AMCC             3.17

^2019-20 Southland Men's Basketball Student-Athlete of the Year
¹All-Conference First Team selection
²Two-time all-academic selection

HARDWOOD CLUB/S CLUB
Fans interested in becoming active supporters of the basketball program are encouraged to join the Hardwood Club.  Lion alums are encouraged to join the exclusive S Club, which is restricted to Southeastern athletic letterwinners.  All membership fees and donations to Hardwood Club are available for the exclusive use of the Southeastern basketball program. Membership information is available by contacting the Lion Athletics Association at laa@southeastern.edu or (985) 549-5091 or visiting www.LionUp.com.
 
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