Zach Wallace Voted NACC Defensive Player of the Year and First Team All-NACC

2017 Feb 22

The Rockford University men's basketball program received good news Wednesday morning when two of its players were honored by the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference for their performances on the court this past season. Senior Zach Wallace (Rockford, Ill.) highlighted the group by earning two separate awards. Wallace was voted First Team All-NACC and was also selected NACC Defensive Player of the Year. Freshman Ben Weber (South Beloit, Ill.) also garnered recognition as he was voted to the NACC All-Freshman Team.

Zach Wallace capped off a remarkable four-year career as a Regent with his First Team All-NACC selection as well as being named the conference's Defensive Player of the Year. This marks the first time in his career that Wallace has been voted First Team All-Conference, and he also becomes the only men's basketball player in school history to be named NACC Defensive Player of the Year. Wallace's recognition was well deserved as he led the NACC in three major statistical categories and finished a close second in another. He concluded the regular season as the conference's leading scorer (21.7 ppg), rebounder (11.5 rpg) and shot blocker (2.8 bpg) and also had the second highest field goal percentage (61.9%). Wallace is only the second player in the history of the NACC to the lead the conference in both scoring and rebounding and is the first to ever lead the conference in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots. In addition to his profound impact in the NACC, Wallace has also left his footprint all over the RU men's basketball program. At the conclusion of his career, Wallace is now the seventh leading scorer (1,529) and the sixth leading rebounder (801) in school history. He also holds a trio of school records including career field goal percentage (58.1%) and blocked shots in a season (70) and in a career (207).