BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – Five members of the Carleton College men's basketball program received recognition as the MIAC coaches handed out their end-of-season and postseason honors. Senior forward
Jeremy Beckler (Lino Lakes, Minn./White Bear Lake) and sophomore guard
Luke Harris (Piedmont, Calif.) were both named the All-MIAC First Team, with junior forward
Matt Banovetz (Minneapolis, Minn./Academy of Holy Angels) and junior guard
Alex Gibbens (New Canaan, Conn.) taking home All-MIAC Honorable Mention. Head Coach
Ryan Kershaw was selected as the MIAC Coach of the Year.
Additionally, Banovetz, Beckler, and Harris were also named to the inaugural MIAC All-Playoff Team.
Carleton is 24-3 this season—establishing a school record for victories—and captured both the MIAC regular-season and post-season titles to earn the team a trip to the NCAA Championships. The Knights are listed No. 21 in the latest D3hoops.com Top-25 poll. This is the first time since that poll began in November 1999 that Carleton has been nationally ranked.
Beckler earned his third straight All-MIAC accolade, making him the 59th player in recorded MIAC history to be named to at least three all-conference teams. Including Carleton's time in the Midwest Conference, he is the 13th Knight to receive three or more all-conference honors.
Beckler is averaging 21.8 points per game this season, second among MIAC players. He scored in double digits in 26 of the 27 games he started, surpassed 20 points on 16 occasions this season, including five games of at least 30 points. He showed that he was dangerous from every inch of the court, as he was the only player in the MIAC to average at least 21.0 points and 5.0 rebounds while shooting better than 50 percent from the field overall and 40 percent from 3-point range. As if that was not enough, he impacted the game in other ways, adding 2.1 assists per game and sitting eighth among MIAC players by averaging 0.6 blocks per game. During the MIAC Playoffs, Beckler averaged 23.5 points, 8.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 2.0 blocks.
After receiving All-MIAC Honorable Mention last season, Harris moved up a rung on the awards ladder in 2022-23, snaring his first All-MIAC nod. He played and started 26 of the 27 games. He scored double digits 22 times and tallied at least 20 points on nine occasions. He averaged 16.7 points per game, good for ninth among conference players and first among MIAC point guards. Harris averaged 3.4 assists per game which was good for fifth in the MIAC, and his 1.5 assist-to-turnover ratio was also fifth best in the conference. His 89 assists put him in a tie for third in the conference. He is the only MIAC player in the conference to shoot better than .550 from the field and have an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.5. In the MIAC Playoffs, Harris averaged 20.5 points on 14-of-19 shooting (.734), along with 4.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 1.0 steals.
Banovetz is third on the Knights in scoring this season, averaging 11.0 points per game while starting 26 of the 27 games. He scored in double digits 11 times, breaking the 20-point mark in four games. He leads the Knights and is sixth in the MIAC with 7.1 rebounds per game, and notched a pair of double-doubles on the year.
Banovetz was also one of the strongest defensive players in the MIAC, sitting sixth with 0.7 blocks per game and fourth with 1.6 steals per game, with both figures pacing the Knights this season. He is 1 of 3 MIAC players to average at least 11.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 1.5 steals per game on the season. During the MIAC Playoffs, Banovetz averaged 13.0 points, 13.0 rebounds, 1.5 blocks, and 1.5 steals across the two victories.
Gibbens started 25 of the 27 games he played for the Knights and finished fourth on the team in scoring at 9.7 points per game and fifth with 4.1 rebounds per contest. He reached double-digit scoring in 13 games across the season, including an 18-point effort against Bethel. He also sits fifth in the MIAC with 3.2 assists per game and his 1.2 assist-to-turnover ratio is ninth best in the conference.
After nine years as the Knights' top assistant coach, Kershaw is in his first season at the helm of the Carleton program. His squad went 17-3 in conference play, winning the MIAC's regular-season title by a whopping four games. Under his direction the Knights won the 20th conference crown in program history and their first since a shared title in 2010-11. This season saw Carleton's first out-right conference title since the 1965-66 season when the team was in the Midwest Conference. This is the team's first outright MIAC title since 1922-23.
Kershaw currently owns the highest winning percentage (.888) among active NCAA Men's Basketball coaches. This is the fourth time a Carleton coach has been named MIAC Coach of the Year, after Guy Kalland won the honor in 2006, 2011, and 2017.
The Knights open the NCAA Championships with a first round matchup against St. Norbert College at 4:15 p.m. on Friday, March 3. That game will be played at regional host Wheaton College.
