Whiteside, Pena receive postseason honors

Marshall University men's basketball player Hassan Whiteside has been selected Conference USA Rookie of the Year and Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year.

Whiteside reset the Conference USA record for most blocks in a season on Feb. 24 when Whiteside blocked four shots. Whiteside reset the Conference USA, and his own school record for most blocks in a game with 13 against UCF on Feb. 27. Whiteside has blocked 168 shots this season. The 7-foot player also broke the Marshall career blocks record against UCF on Feb. 27. The old C-USA season blocks record was 143, which was set by Jerome Jordan during the 2007-08 season. The previous Marshall career blocks tally was 148, which was set by Omar Roland in 1988-90.

Whiteside broke the Marshall school record for most blocks in a season when he recorded five against UAB on Jan. 16. Whiteside's blocks this season broke the old record of 101, which was set by Omar Roland during the 1989-90 campaign. Whiteside currently leads Division I in blocked shots in the most recent report and is the Conference USA leader in the category.

Whiteside became the only Conference USA player to post three triple-doubles in a season against UCF when he scored 14 points, blocked 13 shots and had 11 rebounds in Marshall's 121-115 triple overtime victory. He has been selected Conference USA Rookie of the Week six times this season.

Whiteside was selected Sporting News Second Team Freshman All-American as well as second team All-Conference on March 8.  Marshall is the fourth seed in the GMC Sierra Conference USA Tournament and will play the winner of the game between the fifth seed Tulsa and the 12th seed Rice at 7:30 p.m. E.T. on Thursday.

Teammate Dago Pena along with Tulsa's Steven Idlet have been chosen to share the Conference USA Sixth Man of the Year award.  The 6-foot-6 wing player has played in 28 games this season, starting in two. Pena's offensive rebound and put-back sent Marshall-UCF game into a third overtime Feb. 27. He scored a career-high 20 points against UCF during that UCF game.  Pena is fourth on the team in assists with 51, fifth on team in steals with 19 and sixth on team in scoring. He established new career highs for assists with 10 and steals with 5 against Salem Dec. 3.