Mikey Dixon Wins MAAC Rookie of the Year Award
3/3/2017 11:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
ALBANY, N.Y. - Quinnipiac freshman guard Mikey Dixon (New Castle, Del.) was named the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Rookie of the Year for the 2016-17 season, it was announced today at the league's annual awards show held at the Albany Capital Center.
Dixon becomes the first Bobcat player to win a conference Rookie of the Year honor since Rob Monroe earned the distinction in 2001-02 in the Northeast Conference. He is the second Quinnipiac player to earn a major award in the four seasons in the MAAC, after Ousmane Drame captured the Defensive Player of the Year in 2014-15.
Dixon had a spectacular rookie season, ranking in the top 10 nationally in scoring among freshmen for most of the last month. He entered the postseason ranked seventh at 16.8 points per game, before finishing at 16.5, which currently place him tenth. He easily passed Monroe's record for highest scoring average for a freshman at the Division I level (13.0, set in 2001-02) and just missed the school mark for all divisions of 16.7 ppg, which was set by Frank Berretta in 1979-80 at the Division II level. Dixon also recorded the top three single-game scoring outputs for a Quinnipiac freshman, tallying 29 points against Canisius (Jan. 20), 28 against Rider (Feb. 26) and 27 against Iona (Jan. 14).
Six times this season, Dixon earned the MAAC Rookie of the Week honor, all of which came during league competition. He earned his first one on Dec. 6 after averaging 16 points in his first two conference games, including 18 against eventual regular season champion Monmouth. He added three straight Rookie of the Week honors from Jan. 9-23, winning on Jan. 9 after he had 23 points, including the game-winning basket with 22.4 seconds left at Niagara on Jan. 2. He followed that up with a second straight after his 27-point game against Iona and made it three in a row after his 29-point game against Canisius.
After teammate Peter Kiss (New York, N.Y.) tied him with four Rookie of the Week honors by winning the next three in a row, Dixon closed out the regular season with the last two. He earned it on Feb. 20 after his first two double-doubles of his career, tallying 24 points and 11 rebounds against Fairfield on Jan. 17 and then compiling 13 points and 12 rebounds at Manhattan on Jan. 19. He captured his final honor on Feb. 27 after averaging 23.5 points in two games, including 19 points and nine rebounds at Marist and 28 points against Rider.
Dixon and Kiss combined to average 29.8 points per game this season, currently ranking them as the fifth-highest scoring freshman duo nationally, behind only Kentucky (Malik Monk, De'Aaron Fox), Saint John's (Shamorie Ponds, Marcus LoVett), UCLA (T.J. Leaf, Lonzo Ball) and Michigan State (Miles Bridges, Nick Ward). Dixon's 18.1 points per game in MAAC contests ranked him fourth in the league for all classes, while his 16.8 average in the regular season placed him sixth.
Dixon finished the season with 512 total points, the ninth-highest total in Quinnipiac history at the Division I level for any class. He is now ahead of pace to become the first 2,000-point scorer in Quinnipiac's Division I history and only the second at any level. Frank Vieira '57 is the only player to reach that milestone, while James Johnson '12 holds the school's Division I record with 1,729 points.
Dixon becomes the first Bobcat player to win a conference Rookie of the Year honor since Rob Monroe earned the distinction in 2001-02 in the Northeast Conference. He is the second Quinnipiac player to earn a major award in the four seasons in the MAAC, after Ousmane Drame captured the Defensive Player of the Year in 2014-15.
Dixon had a spectacular rookie season, ranking in the top 10 nationally in scoring among freshmen for most of the last month. He entered the postseason ranked seventh at 16.8 points per game, before finishing at 16.5, which currently place him tenth. He easily passed Monroe's record for highest scoring average for a freshman at the Division I level (13.0, set in 2001-02) and just missed the school mark for all divisions of 16.7 ppg, which was set by Frank Berretta in 1979-80 at the Division II level. Dixon also recorded the top three single-game scoring outputs for a Quinnipiac freshman, tallying 29 points against Canisius (Jan. 20), 28 against Rider (Feb. 26) and 27 against Iona (Jan. 14).
Six times this season, Dixon earned the MAAC Rookie of the Week honor, all of which came during league competition. He earned his first one on Dec. 6 after averaging 16 points in his first two conference games, including 18 against eventual regular season champion Monmouth. He added three straight Rookie of the Week honors from Jan. 9-23, winning on Jan. 9 after he had 23 points, including the game-winning basket with 22.4 seconds left at Niagara on Jan. 2. He followed that up with a second straight after his 27-point game against Iona and made it three in a row after his 29-point game against Canisius.
After teammate Peter Kiss (New York, N.Y.) tied him with four Rookie of the Week honors by winning the next three in a row, Dixon closed out the regular season with the last two. He earned it on Feb. 20 after his first two double-doubles of his career, tallying 24 points and 11 rebounds against Fairfield on Jan. 17 and then compiling 13 points and 12 rebounds at Manhattan on Jan. 19. He captured his final honor on Feb. 27 after averaging 23.5 points in two games, including 19 points and nine rebounds at Marist and 28 points against Rider.
Dixon and Kiss combined to average 29.8 points per game this season, currently ranking them as the fifth-highest scoring freshman duo nationally, behind only Kentucky (Malik Monk, De'Aaron Fox), Saint John's (Shamorie Ponds, Marcus LoVett), UCLA (T.J. Leaf, Lonzo Ball) and Michigan State (Miles Bridges, Nick Ward). Dixon's 18.1 points per game in MAAC contests ranked him fourth in the league for all classes, while his 16.8 average in the regular season placed him sixth.
Dixon finished the season with 512 total points, the ninth-highest total in Quinnipiac history at the Division I level for any class. He is now ahead of pace to become the first 2,000-point scorer in Quinnipiac's Division I history and only the second at any level. Frank Vieira '57 is the only player to reach that milestone, while James Johnson '12 holds the school's Division I record with 1,729 points.
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