A trio of Toledo men’s basketball sophomores were honored by the Mid-American Conference with Wednesday morning’s announcement of the all-league teams and specialty awards. Voting was done by the league’s head coaches.
Sam Lewis earned Second-Team All-MAC honors, with Sonny Wilson receiving Third-Team All-MAC accolades. Javan Simmons was named to the league’s honorable-mention squad. The Rockets have now had at least three members on the MAC’s all-league squads in seven straight seasons.
Toledo faces No. 5 seed Ohio in the MAC Tournament quarterfinal round today in Cleveland with tipoff at approximately 1:30 p.m. on ESPN+.
The trio will lead the Toledo men’s basketball team (17-14, 10-8 MAC) as they open play in the 2025 Mid-American Conference Tournament as the No. 4 seed today, March 13, against No. 5 seed Ohio (16-15, 10-8 MAC). The contest will be televised on ESPN+ and tip off in Cleveland’s Rocket Arena at approximately 1:30 p.m. (Thirty minutes after Akron’s game vs. Bowling Green.)
The Rockets and Bobcats tied for fourth place in the league standings, ending UT’s record-setting four-year run as outright league champions. Toledo defeated Ohio in both meetings this season, an 86-83 triumph in Athens on Jan. 28 and a 96-82 home victory last Friday.
Lewis, a Chicago native, paced the Rockets this season and ranked sixth in the MAC with 15.9 ppg. He registered a team-high nine 20-point outings that ranked third in the conference, including a career-high 23 points vs. Akron (March 7) and Northern Illinois (Feb. 1). Lewis ranks second in the MAC with a 43.3 three-point FG% and is tied for the team lead with 29 double-digit outings. He also topped the Rockets in scoring on 15 occasions and recorded double-doubles at Purdue (13 pts., career-best 11 reb.) and at Western Michigan (14 pts., 10 reb.).
A Pontiac, Michigan, native, Wilson ranked second on the team with 15.3 ppg, 3.2 apg and 0.9 apg, and a 40.0 three-point FG%. He also is leading the MAC with a 1.92 assist/turnover ratio and is tied for the team lead with 29 double-digit outings. Wilson poured in a career-high 23 points on 9-of-11 shooting and leads all MAC guards with a 51.9 FG%. He has five 20-point outings this season and enters the MAC Tournament with a 14-game double-digit scoring streak.
Simmons averaged a career-high 12.4 ppg with a team-best 6.6 rpg and 55.8 FG%. He ended his regular season with a flourish, averaging 21.7 ppg and 6.7 rpg with a 79.3 FG% (23-of-29) and a 100.0 FT% (18-of-18) in his last three games. Simmons leads the MAC with 3.1 offensive rpg and ranks third in league play with 8.1 rpg. He also became the second Rocket ever to make 10 or more field goals in a game without a miss en route to a 23-point outing in UT’s regular-season finale vs. Ohio.
Men’s basketball team players huddle together during a game.
