Cleveland, Ohio - Today the Mid-American Conference announced the All-MAC Teams & Specialty Award selections for the 2021-22 season. All of the awards were voted on by the league's 12 head coaches. Kent State's Sincere Carry was named the MAC Player of the Year, while Golden Flashes Head Coach Rob Senderoff earned Coach of the Year accolades. Ball State's Payton Sparks was tabbed Freshman of the Year, while Akron's Enrique Freeman (Defensive Player of the Year) & Kent State's Justyn Hamilton (Sixth Man of the Year) rounded out this year's specialty award selections.

Coach Senderoff earns his first Coach of the Year award in his 11th season as the Flashes' head coach. It's the first time a Kent State coach has taken home the award since Geno Ford in 2011. Senderoff has crossed off multiple milestones this season, including his 200th career win, his 100th career MAC victory and climbed the MAC coaching ranks to seventh place in all-time.

Carry is just the fourth Golden Flash in program history to win Player of the Year, all of whom have come in the last 17 years. The Solon, Ohio native finished the regular season on a tear, winning three straight Player of the Week honors to close the season while leading the team to a 12-game winning streak. Carry was also named to the All-MAC First Team. He is the first Kent State player to win Player of the Year since Justin Greene in 2011 and it marks the sixth time in the last eight years with a Golden Flash on the all-conference first team.

After starting every game a season ago, Hamilton moved to a bench role this year and brought a spark to the Flashes' bench. He ranks sixth in the MAC in field goal percentage (.528) and is third in the league with 39 blocked shots. Despite the bench role, Hamilton is third on the team in minutes played and plays a large role in the Flashes' success. 

Sparks has a team-best 13.3 points per game and 8.3 rebounds per contest. Sparks has tallied 398 points this season and is currently third as a freshman in all-time scoring, behind Bonzi Wells (474) and Ray McCallum (463). Sparks has attempted 192 free throws this season, which is tied for 14th in the NCAA and leads the MAC. He has attempted more free throws than any other freshman in the NCAA. Sparks is second on the team with 15 blocks. He recorded 11 double-doubles on the season to lead all freshmen and finished second in the MAC. Sparks finished the regular season with 23 games scoring double figures and 12 games with double-digit rebounds. Sparks' 8.27 rebounds per game is fourth in the MAC, while his 13.27 points per game are 18th in the conference.

Freeman started all 30 games for the Zips and is 1-of-13 players in the NCAA to average a double-double in points (13.0) and rebounds (11.0). He registered 20 double-digit scoring performances with four games of 20-plus points, including a career-high 24 points against Marshall (Dec. 1, 2021). Freeman also posted 23 double-digits rebounding performances, including a season-best 18 rebounds against Western Michigan (Feb. 15, 2022). Freeman ranks among the Top 16 players in the NCAA in six categories, including No. 3 in field goal percentage (64.5), No. 6 in rebounds per game (11.0), No. 7 in total rebounds (330), No. 9 in defensive rebounds per game (7.67), No. 9 in double-doubles (16) and No. 16 offensive rebounds per game (3.33). He leads the MAC in 5-of-6 of these categories, ranking second overall in offensive rebounds per game.

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