OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – Mercer’s Ross Cummings was one of 30 NCAA Division I men’s basketball players nationwide selected as a candidate for the Senior CLASS Award, the organization announced Monday.
To be eligible for the honor, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School ®, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.
Not only is Cummings the Southern Conference’s lone representative among the 30 student-athletes, but he is also the only player from a school in Georgia. The redshirt senior guard is in his fifth campaign with Mercer and reached a pair of scoring milestones earlier this season. With 5:45 to go in a nationally televised December game against Wofford, he became the 43rd player in program history to surpass 1,000 career points. In that same contest, the Dickson, Tennessee, native hit his 200th career 3-pointer to become only the third player in Orange & Black men’s hoops history to drain 200 triples.
He currently sits 28th in program history with 1,119 points and is 35 3-pointers away from setting the program record currently held by Langston Hall (257). For his career, Cummings is averaging 11.7 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.3 assists per contest. He boasts a career shooting percentage of 44.3 percent (356-of-803) and has knocked down 41.1 percent of his tries from downtown (222-of-503). At the charity stripe, the 6-3 guard has made almost 80 percent of his shots (185-of-232, 79.7 percent). Mercer has been victorious 72 times in Cummings’ tenure with the program.
A decorated student, Cummings is currently working towards his master’s in higher education leadership and boasts a 3.9 GPA. He has been named to the Southern Conference’s Academic Honor Roll on two occasions.
The current list of 30 Senior CLASS Award candidates will be narrowed to 10 finalists in late February and placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will then select the candidate who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of community, classroom, character and competition.
The winner will be announced during the 2021 NCAA Men’s Final Four®.
For the full Senior CLASS Award release,
click here.
2020-21 Senior CLASS Award Candidates
Justin Turner, Bowling Green
Josiah Wallace, Eastern Illinois
Corey Kispert, Gonzaga
Luka Garza, Iowa
Marcus Garrett, Kansas
Davion Mintz, Kentucky
Olivier Sarr, Kentucky
Cameron Krutwig, Loyola Chicago
Tate Hall, Loyola Chicago
Darryl Morsell, Maryland
Ross Cummings, Mercer
Nysier Brooks, Miami
Isaiah Livers, Michigan
Cam Davis, Navy
Nicholas Kratholm, Niagara
Geo Baker, Rutgers
Shavar Reynolds Jr., Seton Hall
Manny Camper, Siena
Oscar da Silva, Stanford
John Fulkerson, Tennessee
Yves Pons, Tennessee
Matt Coleman III, Texas
Brad Green, UC Irvine
Chris Smith, UCLA
Collin Gillespie, Villanova
Wabissa Bede, Virginia Tech
Isiah Brown, Weber State
Carson Williams, Western Kentucky
D'Mitrik Trice, Wisconsin