Rutgers Men’s Basketball Trio Receives Honors

Rutgers senior Ron Harper Jr. won the Lt. Frank J. Haggerty Award which is given to the  All-New York Metropolitan NCAA Division I men's college basketball player of the year. According to Scarletknights.com, Harper Jr. is the first Scarlet Knight since Quincy Douby (2006) to win the Haggerty Award and the third RU player ever to receive the honor. Rutgers legend Phil Sellers won the award twice in 1975 and 1976.

"It's an honor to win the Haggerty Award and it took a village to get here," Harper Jr. said. "I'd like to thank my support system in my family, my coaches, my teammates, and everyone that has been around me on this great journey. There are a lot of well-deserving players for this award, and I am extremely honored the metropolitan writers voted for me. Thanks to the people around me, I have been able to overcome every obstacle that has come my way in the adversity I have been through in my four years at Rutgers. It's an honor to receive such a prestigious award."

Harper averaged 15.8 points per game, 7.8 rebounds per game and shot 44.2 percent from the field. In four seasons at Rutgers, Harper has played in 121 games with 109 starts, scoring 1,525 points and collecting 622 rebounds, 94 steals and 78 blocks.

Harper will take his talents to the NBA next season after declaring for the NBA Draft which takes place in June.

Meanwhile Geo Baker and Caleb McConnell received honors, with Baker getting named to All-Met second team and McConnell named to All-Met third team.

Baker averaged 12.0 points-per-game, 3.9 assists-per-game and shot 39.1 percent from the field in 2021-22. McConnell had 60 starts and 114 games played as a Scarlet Knight. McConnell is ninth all time on the RU steals list with 150 steals.