ST. LOUIS – Missouri State junior Tulio Da Silva (Jr., Formiga, Brazil) has been named Missouri Valley Conference Men’s Basketball Newcomer of the Year, the league announced Tuesday afternoon.
Da Silva was announced earlier Tuesday as an All-MVC first-team selection and an MVC All-Newcomer Team pick. He also finished fourth in the MVC Larry Bird Player of the Year Award voting.
He led the Bears this season with 14.7 points and 7.6 rebounds per game while converting 56.2 percent of his field goal attempts. He ranks among the league’s top 10 players in four statistical categories and is 40th nationally in field goal percentage. He led the Bears in scoring 10 games this season and in rebounding 18 times. He has also scored in double figures in 22 of 26 games at MSU.
Da Silva, a transfer from South Florida, is just the third Bear (Kyle Weems 2011 and 2012; and Alize Johnson 2017 and 2018) over the last 10 seasons to earn All-MVC first-team distinction. He and Loyola sophomore Cameron Krutwig are the only non-seniors on this year’s MVC first team. He is a two-time MVC Player of the Week (Jan. 14 and Feb. 18) and also won MVC Newcomer of the Week the same two weeks.
He is the seventh MSU player to earn MVC Newcomer of the Year, and is the third Bear over the last four seasons to earn that distinction, joining Dequon Miller (2016) and Alize Johnson (2017).
Coach Dana Ford and the Bears begin the 2019 Missouri Valley Conference Tournament on Friday afternoon in St. Louis. The No. 4 seeded Bears take on fifth-seeded Bradley at 2:30 p.m. at Enterprise Center (formerly Scottrade Center) in St. Louis. The game will air on FOX Sports Midwest and the MVC Television Network.
