By: Mark Wasik
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KENNESAW, Ga. – Kennesaw State saw two players earn Atlantic Sun Men's Basketball season honors on Monday as for the second straight year Terrell Burden was the top vote receiver on the All-ASUN Second Team, while RJ Johnson was named to the ASUN All-Freshman team.
Burden, a senior guard from Smyrna, Ga., was one of the most talented offensive players in the Atlantic Sun in 2023-24. He currently ranks seventh in the league in scoring with a 16.5 points per game average, while he was even better in conference play with an 18.7 ppg average, fourth-best in the ASUN. The point guard also ranked first in the conference and 15th in the nation with a career-high 6.2 assists per game, while his 186 total assists this season is eighth-best in the nation. Burden scored 20+ points in 11 games this season, and is the only Owl to have ever scored 30+ points three times in a six-game stretch. That includes a school-record (Division I era) 37 points in the Owls' game against North Alabama. He's been named ASUN Player of the Week twice this season, the first two of his career, including in the second week of ASUN play when he led the Owls to a 2-0 week with home wins over Stetson and FGCU. In the win over FGCU, with the game tied in the final seconds he stole the ball and sank a step-back three-pointer at the buzzer for the win. Coming into Monday's game, he ranks first all-time (D1 era) in career assists with 557, second in scoring at 1,629 points and third in steals with 167.
Johnson, a native of Huntsville, Ala., scored in double-figures in eight games this year, including three times in conference play. He currently is sixth on the team in scoring with 6.8 points per game and third in total assists with 51. Johnson recorded back-to-back career-highs in a pair of ASUN road games this past month, with 17 at Austin Peay and 19 at Lipscomb, while he also scored 10 in a road game at North Florida. He becomes the first Owl to be named all-freshman since Chris Youngblood in 2020-21.
KSU opens play in the 2024 Atlantic Sun Championship on Monday night in the First Round, as the ninth-seeded Owls face the 10th-seed Jacksonville Dolphins at 7 p.m. in Richmond, Ky., in a game streamed live on ESPN+.
