Men's Basketball All-NJAC Team

PITMAN, N.J. – TCNJ men's basketball's tandem of star seniors added to its lore on Tuesday as Matthew Solomon was named NJAC Defensive Player of the Year and joined counterpart Nick Koch on the all-conference first team.
 
Both are All-NJAC selections for the third time. For Koch, it marked a repeat spot on the First Team; for Solomon, a long-awaited jump to the first five after back-to-back honorable mention campaigns.
 
Solomon cemented his legacy as the first player in program history to be named Defensive Player of the Year, and represents the Lions' first major award winner since Travis Jocelyn claimed Player of the Year honors in 2021.
 
The man in the middle has taken his already formidable game to another level, averaging career highs of 14.0 points and 11.2 rebounds per game, the latter topping the conference by a wide margin. Solomon, who ranks 10^th in Division III with 14 double-doubles and 13^th in rebounds per game, was even better in NJAC play, where he averaged 15.1 points and 12.2 boards per contest and doing so while ranking fifth in assists per game (3.3) and second in field-goal percentage (.536).
 
Solomon racked up 13 double-doubles in NJAC play, including a bevy of monster performances: a 20-point, 17-rebound effort against Rowan; a 20-rebound game versus William Paterson; 24 points and 15 rebounds in a double-OT win over Stockton; and last week's 18-point, 11-rebound, 8-assist masterpiece in the upset of No. 1-ranked Montclair State. He was a three-time NJAC Defensive Player of the Week and two-time Player of the Week this season.
 
Solomon has grabbed a whopping 986 rebounds for his career, just 12 shy of Don Nolan's program record and the highest total of any active player in Division III. He is also 5^th in program history in assists (289) and is nearing 1,200 career points.
 
Koch has etched his name deeper into the record books with a sensational senior campaign. He leads the NJAC in scoring (22.8 points per game, 22^nd in the nation) and ranks second in assists (5.0 per game), moving into second all-time in both categories.
 
Those numbers were identical in conference play, highlighting the consistency of Koch's play in one of the toughest conferences in the country. He scored at least 20 points in each of the Lions' last 12 games, including 33 points against Stockton; 30 points, nine rebounds, and six assists versus Rutgers-Camden; 38 points against Rutgers-Newark; 32 more against Rowan; and 26 in the upset of the unbeaten Red Hawks.
 
A three-time NJAC Player of the Week this season, Koch is the first TCNJ player to make the All-NJAC first team in consecutive campaigns since Jocelyn in 2019-20 and 2020-21.