UH senior guard Robert "Fluff" McKiver and senior forward Dion Dowell fulfill separate roles for the Cougars, but they stood together Monday as two of the best players Conference USA has to offer.
McKiver was named to the All C-USA first team for the second consecutive season, and Dowell was tabbed for the third team. It was the first postseason honor for Dowell, who is in his second season with the Cougars (22-8, 11-5 C-USA) after transferring from Texas.
McKiver, who is C-USA’s second-leading scorer with 23.1 points per game, is UH’s first repeat All C-USA first-team selection since Gee Gervin in 1999-2000.
"Fluff is one of the best players in the country," UH head coach Tom Penders said. "He’s capable of carrying us on his back.
"Dion is a role player that must play defense and rebound to be effective for us, and it’s just icing on the cake when he’s knocking down open shots."
McKiver is tied with two others for the 10th-highest scoring average in the nation and is also averaging 4.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists. He leads C-USA with an 88.6 free-throw percentage, and has scored in double figures in all but one of the Cougars’ 30 games.
His season highlight was a 52-point performance in UH’s 95-67 win over Southern Miss at Hofheinz Pavilion on Feb. 27. IT was the highest single-game point total by a Division I player this season and the highest-ever at Hofheinz Pavilion.
"Fluff has grown up and matured," senior guard Marcus Malone said. "He’s handling all the pressure and he excels in it. All these awards – he deserves them. He really took the challenge upon himself to make his team better, as well as himself better."
Dowell is averaging 11 points per game, a team-leading 6.7 rebounds per game and leads the team in free-throw accuracy at 88.7 percent. Dowell’s free-throw percentage doesn’t qualify for the C-USA lead because he averaged less than 2.0 made free throws per game.
He also leads the team in 3-point accuracy (41.3 percent) and blocks (1.7 per game).
