CHICAGO (March 2, 2021) – After earning the Missouri Valley Conference regular season championship for the third time in the last four years, several members of the Loyola University Chicago men's basketball team earned postseason accolades, which were announced today by the league office. Highlighting the crop of award winners was Cameron Krutwig (Algonquin, Ill./Jacobs), who became the third Rambler in the last four years to take home the Larry Bird Trophy as the MVC Player of the Year.
 
Loyola is the first team to produce three MVC players of the year over a four-year period since Southern Illinois players took home the award in 2004, 2005 and 2007. Krutwig had finished in top three in the MVC Player of the Year voting in each of the last two years, and earlier this season, he became just the fourth individual in the storied history of The Valley to total 1,500 points, 800 rebounds and 300 assists in his career joining Oscar Robertson (Cincinnati), Larry Bird (Indiana State) and Hersey Hawkins (Bradley). 
 
This season, Krutwig, a 2020-21 First Team All-MVC pick, who follows former teammates Clayton Custer (2018) and Marques Townes (2019) as Larry Bird Trophy winners, is averaging 15.0 points, 6.6 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.1 blocks and 1.1 steals per outing, while shooting 58.6 percent (154-for-263) from the field. The 6-foot-9 senior center has scored in double figures on 22 occasions this season, topping the 20-point plateau five times, and he is the only player in Ramblers history to rank in the school's all-time top 10 in scoring (1,744), rebounding (894) and assists (353). 
 
Fellow senior Lucas Williamson (Chicago, Ill./Whitney Young) was tabbed Second Team All-MVC and became the second Rambler in the last four seasons to garner MVC Defensive Player of the Year recognition. The 6-foot-4 guard, who was a MVC All-Defensive Team pick a season ago, earned all-league accolades for the first time in his career after putting up 7.9 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 2.2 apg and 1.5 spg in 2020-21. Like Ben Richardson, who took home the league' top defensive player honor in 2018, Williamson is a lockdown defender who routinely guard the opposition's top perimeter player and he is the anchor on a defensive unit that leads the nation in scoring defense (55.7).
 
Joining Krutwig and Williamson on the All-MVC squads was redshirt senior Aher Uguak (Edmonton, Alberta/Harry Ainlay/New Mexico), who picked up third team status in a year in which he accounted for 7.5 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 1.2 apg and converted 62.1 percent (72-for-116) of his field goal tries. For the last two years, the 6-foot-7 forward with the junkyard dog mentality has been one of the most underrated defensive players in the conference, but this season was finally acknowledged for his work at that end of the floor with MVC All-Defensive Team honors. 
 
Point guard Braden Norris (Hilliard, Ohio/Hilliard Bradley/Oakland), a transfer from Oakland University, was named to the MVC All-Newcomer Team. In his first season of eligibility with the Ramblers in 2020-21, the 6-footer is contributing 7.5 ppg, 2.9 rpg and 2.7 apg in addition to sporting a 1.9 assist-to-turnover ratio. Norris has scored in double digits on seven occasions this year and when he commits two or fewer turnovers, the Ramblers are 20-1. 
 
Loyola (21-4, 16-2 MVC), which is ranked No. 20 in this week's Associated Press Top 25 Poll, has its best record through 25 games since 1965-66 (22-3) and will be the top seed at the MVC Championship, which will be held this weekend at Enterprise Center in St. Louis. The Ramblers will play a quarterfinal round game Friday, March 5 at 11 a.m. CT versus the winner of the Bradley - Southern Illinois showdown.
 
The 2020-21 All-MVC awards list is listed below.
 
All-MVC First Team
Tyreke Key, Indiana State
Cameron Krutwig, Loyola
Isiaih Mosley, Missouri State
Roman Penn, Drake
Gaige Prim, Missouri State
 
All-MVC Second Team
Elijah Childs, Bradley
Shamar Givance, Evansville
Shanquan Hemphill, Drake
Jake LaRavia, Indiana State
Lucas Williamson, Loyola
 
All-MVC Third Team
DJ Horne, Illinois State
Lance Jones, Southern Illinois
Ben Krikke, Valparaiso
Austin Phyfe, Northern Iowa
Aher Uguak, Loyola
 
MVC All-Newcomer Team
Bowen Born, Northern Iowa
Darnell Brodie, Drake
Shanquan Hemphill, Drake
Braden Norris, Loyola
Demarcus Sharp, Missouri State
 
MVC All-Freshman Team
Bowen Born, Northern Iowa
Sheldon Edwards, Valparaiso
Kyler Filewich, Southern Illinois
Nate Heise, Northern Iowa
Rienk Mast, Bradley
 
MVC All-Defensive Team
Shanquan Hemphill, Drake
Gaige Prim, Missouri State
Aher Uguak, Loyola
Tre Williams, Indiana State
Lucas Williamson, Loyola
 
Larry Bird MVC Player of the Year
Cameron Krutwig, Loyola
 
MVC Newcomer of the Year
Shanquan Hemphill, Drake
 
MVC Freshman of the Year
Bowen Born, Northern Iowa
 
MVC Defensive MVP
Lucas Williamson, Loyola
 
MVC Sixth Man of the Year
Joseph Yesufu, Drake