FRISCO, Texas – Three members of the Southeastern Louisiana University men's basketball team earned postseason honors for their play during the 2024-25 season with Sam Hines, Jr. being named the Southland Conference's Newcomer of the Year, Jeremy Elyzee the Freshman of the Year, and Jakevion Buckley being named All-Defensive, the SLC office announced on Friday.
 
Both Hines, Jr. and Buckley were also named First Team All-Conference selections.
 
Hines, Jr., a senior guard from Marietta, Ga. and in his first season at Southeastern after three at South Florida, was SLU's biggest force as he was one of less than 10 men's basketball players across all of Division I to score at least 10 points in all of his team's games on the year. He finished the season averaging 16.4 points on 48 percent shooting while grabbing 6.4 rebounds a game to lead the Lions in both scoring and rebounding on the year. He also averaged two assists and a steal per game with 18 blocks on the year. He was named the SLC's Player of the Week on Jan. 13 and a Player of the Week Honorable Mention on Feb. 3. This is Hines, Jr.'s first career All-Conference honor as the SLC's Newcomer of the Year and a First Team All-Conference selection, becoming SLU's first SLC Newcomer of the Year since Ricky Woods won the award in 2005.
 
Buckley, a senior guard from Shelbyville, Texas who was also in his first season at SLU after transferring from fellow SLC institution Lamar, was Southeastern's top ball-handler who also turned himself into a significant scoring threat. He finished the season averaging 14.5 points per game on 46.4 percent shooting while leading the Lions in assists on the season at 4.2 per contest. To earn his spot on the SLC's All-Defensive team, Buckley led the Lions in steals at 1.9 per game while grabbing 4.5 rebounds a game and even blocked four shots from his point guard position. Buckley was named the SLC's Player of the Week on both Feb. 10 and 17. This is Buckley's first career All-Conference honor and All-Defense selection.
 
Elyzee, a freshman forward from Hialeah, Fla., burst onto the scene right out of high school for the Lions. He was immediately inserted into the starting line-up and ended his first season on the collegiate level averaging 10.3 points per game while hitting 50 percent of his shot attempts. He also grabbed 4.9 rebounds per game while leading the Lions in blocks with 20 throughout 2024-25. Elyzee becomes SLU's first SLC Freshman of the Year award winner.
 
The Lions (18-13, 12-8 SLC) MBB are the six-seed in the 2025 Jersey Mike's Southland Conference Basketball Championships presented by Explore Louisiana. Southeastern will start its tournament run on Sunday night, taking on the seven-seed, Incarnate Word. Tip-off of Sunday's first round contest against the Cardinals (16-15, 9-11 SLC) is set for 7:30 p.m. from the Legacy Center in Lake Charles, La. on the McNeese campus.
 
All games on Southeastern's side of the bracket through the semifinals will be televised on ESPN+ with the championship game set to be aired on ESPNU. Live stats for all games of the tournament will be available through StatBroadcast and the Southland Conference. Sunday's game will have a radio broadcast, thanks to the Southeastern Sports Radio Network, on 90.9 FM The Lion in the Hammond/Ponchatoula area and worldwide on LionSports.net/ListenLive or LionUpRadio.org, or you can listen to the game on smart devices through the Lions Gameday Experience app or the MyTuner Radio app.
 
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.
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
For more information on Southeastern Basketball, follow @LionUpMBB and @DavidKieferSLU on Twitter, like /SLUathletics on Facebook and subscribe to the SLUathletics YouTube channel.
 
TICKETS
For ticket information, please contact the Southeastern Athletics Ticket Office at (985) 549-5466 or visit www.LionSports.net/tickets. Southeastern is implementing mobile ticketing as the primary source for securing tickets. All tickets will be available via e-mail in a PDF format for fans to download on their phone or print at home. Tickets can also be downloaded to Apple Wallet.