To wrap up a productive and historic season full of broken records, the Bobcats tallied yet another achievement. Freshman forward DJ Hall was announced on Monday, Sun Belt Freshman of the Year and was named to the All-Sun Belt Second Team.

This established him as the first ever Bobcat to be named Sun Belt Freshman of the Year in program history. He is also the first to win any conference freshman award since former Dameon Sansom in 1994 when the school was in the Southland Conference.

Hall, who played for Plano East High School, isn’t new to the accolades though. In high school he earned UIL Class 6A State Tournament MVP, was a Unanimous District 6-6A MVP, and finished his high school career as the all-time leading scorer for Plano East with 1,388 points.

The freshman not only led the Bobcats in points and rebounds, where he averaged 15 points and almost eight rebounds per game; he led all freshmen in the conference in scoring, rebounds and shooting percentage.

His career high and possibly best performance all season came in a 95-84 win against ULM. Hall recorded 27 points, nine rebounds, five assists, one block and two steals all while shooting almost 65% from the field. He produced seven 20 point games and eight double-doubles in the regular season. He also was ranked third at field goal percentage in the conference with 54.1% and even made it in the top 70 of all NCAAM players in that category.

Not only was he productive on offense, his defensive effort affected the game as much as his offense. Hall racked up 43 steals, ranking second, just behind the team leader Kaden Gumbs.

Now that his freshman regular season as a Bobcat has concluded, the next objective is a conference tournament win to conclude a rollercoaster of a final act in the Sun Belt. The Bobcats tip off their first game at 5 p.m. Friday, March 6 at Pensacola Bay Center in Pensacola, Fla. The game will be available to stream on ESPN+.