Chris Hill Named First-Team Academic All-American
3/4/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 4, 2004
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State junior guard Chris Hill (Indianapolis, Ind.) was named First-Team Academic All-American as selected by CoSIDA. A Third-Team Academic All-American in 2003, Hill sports a 3.84 grade-point average in finance. He is also a member of MSU's Honors College. He is just the fourth Spartan to earn Academic All-America honors in men's basketball joining Ralph Simpson (1970), Greg Kelser (1979) and Matt Steigenga (1990, Third Team) and is the only Spartan to ever be honored twice.
"Becoming an Academic All-American was one of my goals for this season," said Hill. "It's nice to be recognized for the hard work and discipline it takes to have success on the court and in the classroom. There are a lot of people, however, who have helped me acheive this award, from my parents and the academic support people at Michgian State to my teammates and coaches."
"This is an unbelievable honor for Chris," said MSU head coach Tom Izzo. "He takes a lot of pride in his work in the classroom and the court. It's also an honor that the coach, the university president, the administration and the fans can all be excited about."
For the year, the 6-foot-3, 195 pound Hill is averaging 14.1 points and 3.9 assists per game. He ranks first in the Big Ten in 3-point field goals made (2.89 pg) and second in 3-point field-goal percentage (.456). His 78 3-point field goals this season rank sixth on the MSU single-season chart. For his career, he ranks second all-time at MSU in 3-point field goals made (239) and attempted (554) and sixth in 3-point field-goal percentage (.431).
Hill is joined on the first team by Connecticut's Emeka Okafor, Hawaii's Michael Kuebler, William and Mary's Adam Hess and Belmont's Adam Mark. Okafor was selected as the Academic All-America Team Member of the Year.