KANSAS CITY, MO—The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) recognized NJIT men's basketball players Daquan Holiday and Emmanuel Tselentakis on the NABC's annual Honors Court awards program for the 2014-15 season, Rick Leddy, Senior Director of Communications for the organization announced on Thursday.
 
The NABC Honors Court recognizes those men's collegiate basketball student-athletes who excelled in academics during the past season, with a record number of 1,000 student-athletes from more than 350 colleges and universities. The NABC Honors Court recognizes the talents and gifts that these men possess off the court and the hard work they exhibit in the classroom.
 
In order to be named to the Honors Court, a student-athlete must meet a high standard of academic criteria. The qualifications are as follows:
 
1. Academically a junior or senior and a varsity player.
2. Cumulative GPA of 3.2 or higher at the conclusion of the 2014-15 academic year.
3. Students must have matriculated at least one year at their current institution.
4. Member of a NCAA Division I, II, III, or NAIA Division I or II institution with a NABC member coach.
 
"We are very proud of the work that Daquan and Emmanuel have done both in the classroom and on the court here at NJIT," said NJIT head coach Jim Engles. "It is a terrific honor for them as well for our basketball program."

Daquan Holiday
Holiday, who is a 2015 graduate with a major in communications, Holiday, was a four-year member of the NJIT team. In a career highlighted by his senior season, he appeared in all 33 games, starting 32, for a record-setting team that won 21 games and advanced to the semifinal round of the national postseason CollegeInsider.com Tournament.
 
Along the way to its record wins total, NJIT men's basketball became a national headliner when it stunned #17/#16 Michigan, 72-70, on December 6 in Ann Arbor and Holiday's plays in the closing seconds will go down among the biggest in NJIT athletics history.
 
First, he grabbed an offensive rebound that came with the shot clock running down and NJIT trying to hold off a final Wolverine rally. Fouled with 4.3 seconds remaining Holiday made both ends of a one-and-one free throw opportunity, expanding the Highlander lead from 70-69 to 72-69.
 
Next, Michigan's Kameron Chatman was fouled with 2.6 seconds on the game clock in a strategic move aimed at precluding what could have been a tying 3-point shot for Michigan. Chatman made the first free throw, but then intentionally missed the second, hoping for a tip-in that would tie the score. Instead, Holiday thwarted the strategy by securing the defensive rebound that kept the ball away from Michigan.
 
His exploits in the Michigan upset were part of a senior year that saw the popular Holiday produce some of his best games against NJIT's best opponents.
 
Holiday opened his senior campaign scoring 10 points against a St. John's team that later would spend time in the National Top 25 and reach the 2015 NCAA Tournament.
 
Against Marquette, like St. John's a member of the powerful BIG EAST Conference, Holiday shot 4-4 from the field and made all four of his free throws for 12 points to go with five rebounds in 16 minutes of action.
 
Later, he scored 12 in a big win over Yale, which went on to tie for the Ivy League title. On February 2, he produced a career-high 13 points in a win over Hampton, which would go on to win the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament and a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
 
Finally, in four CIT postseason games, he made 11 of his 14 shots from field (79 percent) and grabbed a total of 23 rebounds, while coming up with two blocked shots each in wins over Cleveland State and Canisius, both of which had strong forward lines.
 
He has signed a contract to continue playing basketball professionally in Germany. 

Emmanuel Tselentakis
Tselentakis, a business major who has completed four years of academics, but has a year of playing eligibility remaining, is a repeat honoree, having been part of the 2013-14 NABC Honors Court.
 
Born in Englewood, NJ, but raised and educated in his father's native Greece, Tselentakis attended Saint Louis University for a year before enrolling at NJIT at the start of the 2012-13 year. Due to NCAA transfer regulations, he was not able to participate in competition as a Highlander until 2013-14.
 
After two years as a redshirt between Saint Louis and NJIT, he made his intercollegiate debut for the Highlanders in 2013-14, appearing in 26 of the team's 29 games, with five starts. This past season, he appeared in all 33 games, starting 16 for the 21-12 Highlanders, who advanced in postseason all the way to the semifinals of the CollegeInsider.com national tourmament (CIT).
 
His play was key in NJIT's home win over UMass Lowell in December 2013. With his team struggling for points, he entered from the bench and fired in 8 points in his first 4:39 of action. He finished with 13 points in the 55-44 win for the Highlanders, as he connected on 4-of-5 shots from the field, including 3-for-3 on 3-pointers.
 
A fearless team-first competitor, Tselentakis overcame an early season shooting slump in 2014-15 to connect on 13 of his last 24 shots from the floor down the season's stretch run, including 3-for-5 in the pressure-packed CIT games.
 
Located in Kansas City, Missouri, the NABC was founded in 1927 by Phog Allen, the legendary basketball coach at the University of Kansas. Allen, a student of James Naismith, the inventor of basketball, organized coaches into this collective group to serve as Guardians of the Game. The NABC currently has nearly 5,000 members consisting primarily of university and college men's basketball coaches. All members of the NABC are expected to uphold the core values of being a Guardian of the Game by bringing attention to the positive aspects of the sport of basketball and the role coaches play in the academic and athletic lives of today's student-athletes. The four core values of being a Guardian of the Game are advocacy, leadership, service and education.

Official NABC News Release