KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Gonzaga University's men's basketball team was named one of the recipients of the ninth annual National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Team Academic Excellence Awards, created by the NABC Committee on Academics.
 
These awards recognize outstanding academic achievement by a team with a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or better for the 2020-21 season. In order to earn a NABC Team Academic Excellence Award, institutions in the NCAA, NAIA and NJCAA must count the grade point averages of all men's student-athletes who competed during the 2020-21 season.
 
The Bulldogs, one of only three West Coast Conference teams to receive the honor, compiled a 3.19 GPA this past academic year. Gonzaga was the only program that received the award and was ranked in the Top-10 in the final Associated Press poll.
 
GU received the honor for the fifth straight season and the sixth time in program history.
 
Will Graves and Matthew Lang represented GU on the NABC Honors Court. Both received the honor for the second straight season. Graves has a 3.42 GPA as a Sport Management major. Lang, an accounting major, boasts a 3.68 GPA.
 
The NABC Honors Court highlights the talents and gifts that these men possess on the court and the hard work they exhibit in the classroom. In order to be named to the Honors Court, an athlete must meet a high standard of academic criteria, which includes; was academically a junior or senior in 2020-21, carried a 3.2 or higher-grade points average, and must have been at their current NCAA Division I, II, III or NAIA institution for at least one year.