March 18, 2020

Degenkolb Claims CoSIDA First-Team Academic All-American Nod

AUSTIN, Texas – Mason Degenkolb recently became the second student-athlete in the history of the Taylor University men's basketball program to be named a CoSIDA Academic All-American, earning First-Team honors from the College of Sports Information Directors of America.

The prestigious 10-man list of First and Second-Team Academic All-Americans was voted on and selected by members of CoSIDA, recognizing the top student-athletes from the NAIA.

Degenkolb earned his first CoSIDA Academic All-America honor, following three-straight Academic All-District awards. The senior guard and former NAIA All-American currently boasts a 3.81 grade-point average and is set to graduate in May with a degree from TU in accounting.

The Tipton, Indiana native led Taylor with a career-best 18.8 points per game during his final collegiate campaign, and closed his time with the Trojans ranked fifth in program history with 1,940 points. Degenkolb also posted single-season personal-bests during the 2019-2020 season by shooting 45.3 percent from the field and 39.4 percent from three-point range and collected a career-high 2.5 triples and 1.4 steals per showing.

Degenkolb is the fifth TU student-athlete to be named a CoSIDA Academic All-American during the 2019-2020 year, joining Becca and Abby Buchs of women's basketball, Riley Massey of women's soccer and Tyler Hasbrook of football in receiving the accolade.

Those five honors rank Taylor third in the nation among all collegiate levels in Academic All-American honors this year. TU has paced the nation by a wide margin in CoSIDA Academic All-District awards this year, hauling in 26 to lead second-place Stanford by 11 and third-place MIT by 12.

Taylor now boasts 90 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans in school history, with 88 of those honors coming since 2010. Of the 90 awards, 48 have been First-Team Academic All-Americans.

TU men's hoops has garnered three of those honors, with Degenkolb following back-to-back First-Team honors from Casey Coons in 2012 and 2013.

The CoSIDA Academic All-District and All-America awards are designed to recognize student-athletes for outstanding achievements in the classroom, as well as on the court or field of play. In order to be eligible for the honor, an athlete must have a cumulative grade-point average of 3.30, must have reached sophomore status academically with at least one full year at their current institution, must have participated in over half of the team's competitions as a key contributor during the current season and must have been nominated by their institution's Sports Information Department.