FRISCO, TEXAS – The Southland Conference released their men's basketball all-academic teams on Tuesday and the University of the Incarnate Word was one of two schools to have two student-athletes on the teams.

UIW junior Kyle Hittle (New Braunfels/New Braunfels HS) was named to the first team while fellow junior Mitchell Badillo (Houston/Cy Falls HS) was tabbed as second team.  Last year, Hittle was a second team academic all-conference selection.

Hittle has earned a number of awards this year including honorable mention all-Southland Conference and Capital One Academic All-District VII.  He averaged 15.3 points per game and a career high 6.4 rebounds per game.  He was one of the top three-point shooters in the conference at 41.4 percent while knocking down 60.  He became the 15^th player in school history to score 1,000 points in a career and has 1,099 heading into his final season.  He ranks third all-time in school history with 152 made three-pointers and he is shooting over 50 percent from the field for his career.  He has a 3.63 grade point average and is studying business administration.

Badillo is a first time Southland All-Academic Team member this year.  He finished third in the conference with 5.0 assists per game and became only the second player in school history to dish out over 100 assists in three consecutive seasons.  He averaged a career high 8.8 points on 48.7 percent shooting from the field this year.  He has 360 career assists and should become the school's all-time assists leader sometime during the middle of the 2015-16 season.  He has a 3.62 grade point average and is studying sports management.

Northwestern State University's Zeek Woodley was named the Southland Men's Basketball Student-Athlete of the Year.  The Southland Conference awards committee, which consists of one administrator from each of the 13 member schools, voted for the student-athlete of the year.

The student-athlete of the year award is presented to the student-athlete who achieves excellence in both academics and athletics. All nominees shall have earned at least a 3.2 GPA on a 4.0 scale and demonstrated achievement in athletics for at least two years at the nominating institution.

The all-academic teams are voted on by the head coaches, sports information directors and academic advisors from each Southland Conference university. Student-athletes must possess a 3.0 cumulative GPA, have completed one full academic year at the nominating institution and participated in at least 50 percent of the team's competition to qualify for the all-academic squad.
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