UST big man Soulemane Chabi-Yo is this year’s UAAP men’s basketball Most Valuable Player (MVP), while Golden Tigresses team captain Grace Irebu bagged the award in the women’s category.
Season 82 marks the first time that both men’s and women’s MVP awards went to players from UST. The only other pair to do it in UAAP history was Far Eastern University’s Terrence Romeo and Camille Sambile in Season 76.
The Beninese center garnered a total of 76 statistical points (sp), far ahead of De La Salle University’s Justine Baltazar, who had 64 sp.
Ateneo de Manila Blue Eagles’ Ange Kouame had the second most sp with 72.93, but Chabi-Yo’s topping eliminated Kouame from the race, as a league rule states that only one foreign athlete can enter the Mythical Five.
Chabi-Yo led the league with 14.73 rebounds per game (rpg). He was also fifth in scoring, averaging 16.93 points per game (ppg) without making a three-pointer.
Irebu secured her second-straight MVP award with the league’s second-highest scoring average of 21.93 ppg on a 51-percent clip.
Speedster Mark Nonoy was named Rookie of the Year with 39.28 sp. He averaged 10 ppg, 3.86 rpg, and 2.29 assists per game.
The former Tiger Cubs floor general placed second in the MVP voting in his one-and-done juniors season last year.
Sherwin Concepcion finished second in the top rookie race with 33.71 sp.
Nonoy and Chabi-Yo are also the first Tigers to win the MVP and ROY awards in the same season since Dylan Ababou and Jeric Teng in 2009.
The Tigers will face the Far Eastern University Tamaraws in a do-or-die match at 4:30 p.m. today.
