INDIANAPOLIS – The Northern Kentucky men's basketball program saw three student-athletes collect big time honors as the Horizon League announced its 2023-24 yearly award winners on Monday. Trey Robinson was named the Horizon's Defensive Player of the Year to go with a nod to the All-Defensive Team, Marques Warrick was selected for the All-League First Team and the Sportsmanship Award and Randall Pettus II rounded things out as a member of the conference's All-Freshman Team.

 
Robinson was awarded with both the Defensive Player of the Year and a nod to the All-Defensive Team as one of the true leaders of NKU this season.
 
Overall, Robinson averaged 10.8 points, 6.8 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.9 steals and nearly half a block a contest in 2023-24, all of which are new career bests for the Hamilton, Ohio native.
 
He also pulled down four double-doubles on the year and set a new career-high with 20 points, a feat he accomplished three times against Wright State, Oakland and Detroit Mercy.
 
All of Robinson's accomplishments don't truly show up on the stat sheet as he was a lock down defender this season to go with being one of the vocal leaders of the Norse. As Robinson went, NKU went as he truly stepped up his game as Northern Kentucky went on a late-season surge.
 
Robinson led the Horizon in both steals per game and swipes overall (58). He was also ranked tied for fifth in the conference in defensive rebounds per contest (4.8) and sixth in rebounding overall.
 
He is the first NKU student-athlete to take home the Defensive Player of the Year honors since Jalen Tate captured the award in 2019-20.

 
One of the best student-athletes in the Horizon League and one of the top scorers in the nation, Warrick was selected as a member of the All-League First Team and he won the Horizon's Sportsmanship Award after another standout year with the Norse.
 
The Lexington, Kentucky native averaged 19.9 points, 2.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.1 steals per game during the 2023-24 campaign. Warrick finished the year ranked third in the conference in scoring and field goals made (204) and tied for seventh in helpers per contest.
 
On the national level, the senior standout finished 15th in all of NCAA Division I basketball in points scored (618), 24th in made field goals, 32nd in points per game, 33rd in both made free throws (147) and minutes played per contest (35:50) and 70th in free throw percentage (.860).
 
This season also slotted in Warrick at third in points scored, tied for third in made free throws and seventh in scoring average for a single season in school history.
 
To go with the season success, Warrick also claimed the crown as NKU's all-time leading scorer this year as he has now crossed the 2,200-point plateau with 2,207 and counting for his four-year career. He is also currently ranked seventh all-time in Horizon League history in scoring.
 
Warrick was a champion both on and off the court which led to his selection as the winner of the HL's Sportsmanship Award.
 
To go with all his playing accolades as a silent assassin, Warrick made sure to give back to the community that has given so much to him. After he broke the school scoring record, Warrick donated $2,067 to the Northern Kentucky University general scholarship fund, one dollar for each point it took to break the record. He also donated to the Queen City Book Bank in support of their mission to increase literacy in the Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky area. This went along with his work with FUEL NKU, Northern Kentucky University's on-campus food pantry, to go with free summer camps he hosts back in his hometown of Lexington for children of all ages.
 
It is Warrick's sixth yearly award from the Horizon for his career as he was named the Newcomer of the Year and Third Team All- League in 2020-21 and Second Team All-Conference in both 2021-22 and 2022-23.
 
Pettus II was named to the Horizon's All-Freshman team as he stepped into a big role by the end of the year for the Norse.
 
For the regular season, the Bessemer City, North Carolina native averaged 4.8 points, 2.4 rebounds, 1.1 assists and nearly a steal a game to go with shooting a blistering 40.2 percent from the field.
 
There's more to the story though, as Pettus II stepped into a sixth-man role and eventually the starting lineup for NKU and he averaged 8.2 points, 3.9 boards, 2.0 assists and 1.2 swipes per contest in 13 games since he earned a larger part in the rotation in mid-January.
 
Pettus II was also named the #HLMBB Freshman of the Week twice this season.
 
He set a career and season-best with 13 points against both Wright State and Oakland in back-to-back games in early February. He also went off for a career night against IUPUI in late February as he set a career-high in both rebounds (nine) and assists (six).