Big East Conference

NEW YORK – Seton Hall forward Michael Nzei has been named BIG EAST Men’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year Presented by Sunkist. The selection was made by the Conference’s Academic Affairs Committee.   
 
Nzei will receive a $2,000 scholarship, which may be applied to graduate or professional studies.
 
Nzei, who was raised in Makurdi, Nigeria, and lived there until 2012, owns a 3.64 grade point average at Seton Hall.  He already has earned a B.S. in Economics and is working toward a master’s degree in Finance. 
 
A four-time BIG EAST All-Academic Team honoree, Nzei is a 2018-19 Basketball Senior CLASS Award nominee.  Last summer, he served an internship with Cantor Fitzgerald, a financial services firm in New York City, for eight weeks at 50+ hours per week.  Last season, he was named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Honors Court.  He has participated in the NBA's Basketball Without Borders Africa camp.
 
On the court, the 6-8 forward is averaging 9.1 points and 4.9 rebounds.  He ranks fifth in the BIG EAST in field goal percentage, making 61.9 percent.  Nzei has helped the Pirates to a an 18-12 overall record and a 9-9 BIG EAST mark.
 
The BIG EAST Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year award is one of a number of scholarships presented by the BIG EAST Conference during the 2018-19 academic year. In addition, 20 student-athletes (one male and one female from each of the BIG EAST’s 10 member institutions) will receive postgraduate scholarships as the winners of their respective institutions’ Scholar-Athlete Award. The winners of the institutional and basketball awards are then eligible for the BIG EAST Scholar-Athlete of the Year award, which provides an additional postgraduate scholarship to one male and one female student-athlete.


Men’s Basketball Scholar-Athletes of the Year