Michaela Román

Sophomore forward Vince Hunter dunks the ball into the basket for one of his 19 points.

Sophomore Vince Hunter has been named to the All-Conference USA first team. He garners this honor after being named C-USA Freshman of the Year and a a member on the all-conference second team a year ago.

Hunter joins Randy Culppeper, Jon Tofi and Stefon Jackson as the fourth Miner to be named to the first team since UTEP joined Conference USA in 2006.

Along with Hunter, the conference named Old Dominion’s Trey Freeman, UTSA’s Jeromie Hill, Western Kentucky’s T.J. Price and Louisiana Tech’s Kenneth Smith to the first team.

Hunter leads the Miners in both scoring and rebounding, nearly averaging a double-double with 15.2 points per game and 9.3 rebounds per game. His rebound average is the best in Conference USA. Hunter also leads the Miners in steals, with 37, and in blocks, with 31.

Despite struggling with a knee injury, the six-foot-eight forward has recorded 12 double-doubles this season, most by a Miner since the early 70’s. Hunter has also been named the Conference USA Player of the Week four times this year.

Hunter and the Miners will head out to Birmingham, Ala., tomorrow evening for the Conference USA tournament where they will play either UTSA or FIU on Thursday morning.