On Wednesday, Nov. 4 the Ohio Valley Conference announced their preseason awards and rankings for the upcoming basketball season in which APSU was well represented.

In the official OVC preseason poll, the Governors were selected as favorites to take home the title. This is largely due in part to the two preseason award winners on the team. 

Terry Taylor and Jordyn Adams were each named to the Preseason All-OVC Team, with Taylor also being crowned the Preseason OVC Player of the Year. With the honors, Taylor and Adams become the first duo of Governors to have been named to the All-OVC team going into the season since 2013 when Travis Betran and Will Triggs did such.

Taylor’s Preseason All-OVC Team selection and Player of the Year award should come as no surprise, as the 6-5 guard/forward has had one of the most dominant and decorated APSU careers in recent memory. In the APSU record books Taylor currently sits at fourth in points (1923), rebounds (947) and made field goals (739). He also ranks fifth in career blocks (108), ninth in games started (100), ninth in career minutes (3,368) and 10^th in made field goals (316).

The Preseason Player of the Year award is Taylor’s second in a row, making him the first Governor to take home the honor in multiple years.

Coming off a season where he was crowned OVC Player of the Year, Taylor had one of the best statistical seasons in Division I basketball last year. As a junior Taylor ranked among the top 10 nationally in a multitude of areas that include: points (718), points per game (21.8), rebounds (362), rebounds per game (11), offensive rebounds per game (4), made field goals (285) and double-doubles (18).

For Adams, the Silsbee, Texas native is coming off a dominant freshman campaign. The guard had the fourth highest scoring averages in the country with an impressive 17.4 points per game. His scoring ability, paired with 3.2 rebounds along with 2.1 assists, were enough to earn him the OVC Freshman of the Year award along with a spot on the All-OVC First Team.

With the award, Adams becomes the sixth Governor to be named as the conference’s freshman of the year, with the last recipient being his teammate, Terry Taylor, who took home the award in 2018. 

Jordyn was the third freshman in Govs history to make an All-OVC first team in a freshman season with Taylor (2018) and Bubba Wells (1995) being the other two.

Over his impressive season, Adams led the team in scoring 12 times, recording four 30-point games, and 14 20-point games. He also recorded the most made three-points by a freshman in program history with 60. He additionally passed Taylor in having the second-highest point total in a freshman season with 574, behind only James “Fly” Williams (854).

Both Taylor and Adams tested the NBA draft waters after the conclusion of last season but, with both withdrawing their names in May, the Govs are returning more than the best duo in the conference, but arguably a top duo in the nation. At a combined 38.9 points per game a season ago, Taylor and Adams were the third highest scoring duo in D1 basketball.

Under head coach Matt Figger and his elite pairing of OVC Preseason Player of the Year Terry Taylor and All-OVC sophomore Jordyn Adams, the Governors look to take home an OVC title in March for the first time since 2016.