Courtesy of NC A&T Athletics
EAST GREENSBORO — Two players who played in a North Carolina A&T Aggies uniform for the first time in 2022-23 highlight the men’s basketball players who earned postseason honors during A&T’s first season in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA). Junior college transfer and sophomore guard Kam Woods made second-team All-CAA, as announced by the conference on Thursday. In addition, Redshirt freshman Duncan Powell earned a spot on the CAA’s all-rookie team.
Woods heads into Saturday’s first-round CAA tournament game against Stony Brook, averaging 17.0 points, 3.3 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game. He has knocked down a team-leading 81 3-pointers on 34 percent shooting. He started 29 of 30 games this season, missing only the Gardner-Webb game on Nov. 19. Woods ranks in the top-100 nationally in six statistical categories. He is 19th in 3-point attempts (238), 25th in field goal attempts (445), 49th in total 3-pointers made (81), 57th in 3-pointers made per game (2.7), 73rd in minutes per game (34:59) and 83rd in total points (511).
In the CAA, he ranks fourth in scoring, fifth in 3-pointers made per game, fifth in minutes per game, sixth in 3-point field goal percentage (.340), sixth in steals (1.6) and 10th in free throw percentage (.708). He averaged 37.1 minutes per game in conference games only to rank third.
“Kam is a dynamic player,” said North Carolina A&T interim head coach Phillip Shumpert. “He can score, he can pass, he can defend and he has a high motor. He loves the game and has provided that scoring punch we’ve needed this season. When Kam is knocking down shots, he makes us hard to beat because he can pile up points in a hurry when he gets rolling.”
Powell became a key player for the Aggies once the conference season started. Powell had to step in and become a prominent rebounder as injuries devastated the Aggie’s frontcourt. On the season, he played 29 games and made three starts. He averaged 7.9 points and 5.7 rebounds on 43 percent shooting. In 18 conference games, however, he averaged 10.3 points, 6.8 rebounds, and shot 50.4 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from three.
“Duncan Powell is really a combo forward that plays inside and outside,” said Shumpert. “But this year, he’s had to play the 4 (power forward) and the 5 (center) and has done a tremendous job this season. He is the type of versatile big you see in this league who can put it on the floor and get to the rim and knock down the outside shot. To sit out two years and then respond the way he responded this year, I’m tremendously proud of him.”
The Aggies enter the CAA tournament at the Entertainment & Sports Arena in Washington, DC, as the No. 7 seed and will face 10th-seeded Stony Brook at 6 p.m., Saturday, March 4.