KANSAS CITY, Missouri – Two Ivies – Cornell’s Matt Morgan and Yale’s Trey Phills – are among the 30 NCAA men’s basketball student-athletes named candidates for the 2018-19 Senior CLASS Award. The Ivy League is one of seven conferences to boast multiple candidates on list.
 
The League has eight candidates, including three finalists, over the past six seasons.
 
An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School^®, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. 
 
Cornell’s Matt Morgan, a three-time All-Ivy selection and the League’s leading scorer for the past three seasons, is averaging 23.6 points per game, which ranks seventh among the nation’s best. The Concord, N.C., native is also contributing 6.4 rebounds per game, sixth in the Ivy League. Morgan has reached double figures in 58 consecutive games. The senior guard became the first Cornell player to declare early for the NBA Draft during the spring of 2017 (and again in 2018), withdrawing before the early entry deadline to preserve his final seasons of eligibility.
 
Yale’s Trey Phills, a second team All-Ivy selection, has helped Yale to a 2-2 record through four games. Phills is averaging 7.8 points per game, which ranks sixth on the team, while shooting 52.9 percent from the floor. The Charlotte, N.C., native’s 52.9 field goal percentage ranks fourth among team leaders and 14^th in the League. The senior, is the son of former NBA guard Bobby Phills, who died in a car accident after leaving a Charlotte Hornet pre-game shootaround in 2000, when Trey was three years old.
 
The men’s and women’s candidates will be narrowed to two fields of 10 finalists in February, and those names will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select one male candidate and one female candidate who best exemplifies excellence in the four C’s of community, classroom, character and competition.

The Senior CLASS Award winners will be announced during the 2019 NCAA Men’s Final Four® and NCAA Women’s Final Four® this spring. For more information on each of the candidates, visit seniorCLASSaward.com.