The American Athletic Conference released its men’s basketball all-conference honors on Tuesday with two from East Carolina making the list.
Senior guard RJ Felton and graduate forward C.J. Walker were among the 10 players who were chosen by coaches in the league.
Below is a press release from ECU Sports Information with more details.
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Photo credit: RJ Felton and C.J. Walker (ECU Sports Information photo illustration)
IRVING, Texas – East Carolina senior guard RJ Felton and graduate forward C.J. Walker have been tabbed to the American Athletic Conference First Team as the league announced its full list of postseason teams and honors on Tuesday.
The pair earning first team honors marks the first time that the Pirates have had multiple players named to an AAC All-Conference Team in their 11-year era in the league and it is only the second time that the Pirates have had a player earn All-AAC First Team honors. Felton and Walker were the highest scoring duo in the American in the regular season, ranking fourth and fifth respectively in the league in points per game. Felton is the first Pirate to earn a unanimous selection to the league’s first team.
Felton has had a strong campaign in the last year of his historic East Carolina career, averaging 18.5 points per game and 6.5 rebounds per game in 31 games played. The Aiken, S.C. native currently stands as the third all-time leading scorer at ECU and is sixth on the AAC’s all-time scoring list with 1,726 career points. He also led the team in double-doubles with six, recording back-to-back double-doubles on three different occasions.
Felton joins Lester Lyons and Bobby Hodges as the only players in program history to score at least 1,700 career points at ECU. He also shot a career-best 37.6 percent from behind the arc this year for the Pirates, making three or more shots from distance in 15 games and tying a single-game career-high with seven made triples at Charlotte. Felton ranks fourth all-time in made threes at ECU with 228 and is one made shot away from making 200 or more field goals in back-to-back seasons. Felton was named the AAC Player of the Week on Nov. 18 and received honorable mention from the conference six times, the second most in a single season for an ECU player in the American.
Walker has made a major impact in his sixth collegiate season and first with the Pirates, averaging a career-high 17.2 points and 6.5 rebounds per game on 51.5 percent shooting from the floor. The Sanford, Fla. native scored a career-high 33 points at Temple on 14 made field goals, becoming the first Pirate to make 14 shots in a game since Corey Rouse in 2005 and only the fifth player in AAC history to accomplish that feat. He hit the game-winning shot in ECU’s road win at UTSA on Feb. 8, leading to AAC Player of the Week honors and being named one of the Oscar Robertson Trophy National Players of the Week.
Walker snared 10 offensive rebounds against Florida Atlantic on Jan. 5 and was just three rebounds away from setting the program single-game record for offensive rebounds. His 21 points in his ECU debut was two points shy of tying Jonathan Moore for the most points scored in a Pirate debut since 1986. Walker’s 12 career 20-point games have all come this year with the Pirates and was named to the AAC Honorable Mention twice.
Felton and Walker have helped lead the Pirates to their first winning season since 2012-13, their most wins in the American since joining the league with 10 victories, their first season with double-digit conference victories in any league since 1974-75 and their best finish in the standings as a member of the American.
The sixth-seeded Pirates will face 11 seed UTSA inside Dickies Arena on Thursday at 9 p.m. ET on ESPNU in the second round of the American Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Championship.
Below is the full list of postseason teams and honors from the American.
2024-25 AAC Men’s Basketball Honors
Player of the Year
PJ Haggerty, R-So., G, Memphis
Coach of the Year
Penny Hardaway, Memphis
Amir Abdur-Rahim, South Florida – Honorary
Newcomer of the Year
Dain Dainja, R-Sr., F, Memphis
Defensive Player of the Year
Yaxel Lendeborg, Sr., F, UAB
Freshman of the Year
Matas Vokietaitis, C, Florida Atlantic
Amir Abdur-Rahim Sportsmanship Award
Tre Carroll, R-Jr., F, Florida Atlantic
Most Improved Award
Tre Carroll, R-Jr., F, Florida Atlantic
Moulaye Sissoko, Sr., F, North Texas
Sixth Man Award
Brenen Lorient, Jr., F, North Texas
All-Conference First Team
Yaxel Lendeborg, Sr., F, UAB*
RJ Felton, Sr., G, East Carolina*
C.J. Walker, Gr., F, East Carolina
Dain Dainja, R-Sr., F, Memphis*
PJ Haggerty, R-So., G, Memphis*
Tyrese Hunter, Sr., G, Memphis
Brenen Lorient, Jr., F, North Texas
Atin Wright, Sr., G, North Texas*
Rowan Brumbaugh, R-So., G, Tulane
Xavier Bell, Sr., G, Wichita State
All-Conference Second Team
Alejandro Vasquez, Sr., G, UAB
Tre Carroll, Florida Atlantic
Kaleb Glenn, So., F, Florida Atlantic
Baba Miller, Jr., F, Florida Atlantic
Jamille Reynolds, Sr., F, South Florida
Jamal Mashburn Jr., Gr., G, Temple
Primo Spears, UTSA
Kaleb Banks, Jr., F, Tulane
Dwon Odom, Gr., G, Tulsa
Corey Washington, Jr., F, Wichita State
All-Newcomer Team
Dain Dainja, R-Sr., F, Memphis*
Tyrese Hunter, Sr., G, Memphis
Atin Wright, Sr., G, North Texas
Jamal Mashburn Jr., Gr., G, Temple
Rowan Brumbaugh, R-So., G, Tulane
All-Freshman Team
Matas Vokietaitis, C, Florida Atlantic*
CJ Brown, G, South Florida*
Aiden Tobiason, G, Temple
Kam Williams, G/F, Tulane*
Ian Smikle, F, Tulsa
* denotes unanimous selection