The OVC announced its postseason awards for men’s basketball Tuesday and a pair of UT Martin standouts appear on the prestigious list. Senior forward Quintin Dove was selected to the All-OVC first team while redshirt sophomore guard Parker Stewart earned All-OVC second team and All-Newcomer status.
This marks only the fourth time in school history that two Skyhawks landed on the All-OVC first and second team list in the same season. The tandem of Dove and Stewart join Jacolby Mobley/Javier Martinez in 2016-17, Lester Hudson/Gerald Robinson in 2007-08 and Michael Hart/DeWayne “Pooh” Powell in 1995-96.
Dove becomes the seventh different UT Martin honoree to ever notch All-OVC first team accolades and is one of only three players to collect both All-OVC first and second team honors in a career (alongside Hart and Ryan DeMichael).
The Cleveland, Ohio native was rock-solid all year long for UT Martin as Dove ranked in the top-10 in the OVC in scoring (20.2 points per game, second), offensive rebounding (3.8 per game, second), rebounding (7.9 per game, third), minutes played (33.8 per game, fifth), field goal percentage (.565, seventh) and free throw percentage (.782, eighth). His 22.3 points per contest in league play topped the OVC as he became the first Skyhawk since Hudson (2008-09 and 2007-08) to lead the conference in that category.
Dove’s eight double-doubles in 2019-20 were the third-most in the OVC as six of those came against league opposition. That included a 26-point, career-best 20-rebound effort against SIUE on Feb. 27 that was just the second 20-20 game in the Skyhawks’ Division I Era (since 1992) and the 10th such feat in the last decade of OVC basketball. All three of his 30-plus point outings occurred in conference play, including a 35-point performance at Eastern Kentucky on Jan. 30 that equaled his career-high in scoring.
The 6-8, 210-pounder won OVC Player of the Week three times (Nov. 11, Feb. 17, March 1) while he ranks in the top-10 in UT Martin single-season history in points (586, sixth), free throws made (140, sixth) and field goals made (213, eighth).
Stewart lived up to the lofty expectations of a dynamic playmaker in his debut season after transferring to the Skyhawks from Pittsburgh. He stands alongside Deville Smith (2014-15) and Hart (1994-95) as the only three players in school history to be labeled All-OVC second team and All-Newcomer in the same year.
The 6-5, 200-pound combo guard out of Union City, Tenn. led the OVC in three-point field goals made (2.8 per game) while also ranking third in scoring (19.2 points per game), third in minutes played (36.2 per game) and seventh in assists (3.8 per game). In league play, he upped his scoring average to an even 20.0 points per contest while also ranking fifth in the OVC with an .802 free throw percentage.
Stewart is one of only 10 players nationally (and three underclassmen) to average at least 19.0 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.7 assists per outing in 2019-20. Despite the fact that he missed four conference games late in the season with an injury, he still produced four 30-plus point outings – which is the third-most in UT Martin’s Division I history. His 33 points at Murray State on Jan. 2 marked the highest scoring tally for any player making his OVC debut since January of 2004.
Stewart and Hudson are the only two Skyhawks to ever accumulate five OVC Newcomer of the Week awards in the same season. Stewart brought home the hardware this season on Nov. 18, Nov. 25, Dec. 2, Jan. 13 and Feb. 3.
