Wheeling, W. Va. – Ahead of the 2023 Mountain East Conference (MEC) Men's Basketball Tournament On Wednesday, the conference release their annual All-MEC Team. After clinching the #10 seed on Saturday, The Wheeling University Men's Basketball team had one representative on this year's list. Senior
John Korte earned the first All-MEC honor of his career as he was named First Team All-MEC for his work during the 2022-23 season.
While the record isn't exactly how the Cardinals would like it to be, it was a competitive year throughout for this young team. They finished the year 4-22 overall, and 6-20 in conference play, but have played way better than that record indicates. Of those 22 losses, 16 were by 9 points or less and 10 were by 5 points or less. After struggling through growing pains early in the year, the team picked up their first conference win on January 14th against Frostburg State. After that game, the team went 3-8 down the stretch in MEC play, including a win over the #1 seed in this year's tournament West Liberty. It would be the last day of the regular season when the Cardinals clinch their playoff spot as they are in the #10 seed after Frostburg State fell to Fairmont State in their final game of the regular season.
For Korte, It was the first All-MEC Honor of his career as he had a breakout year in 2022-23. Korte was the conference's third leading scorer. Korte averaged 19.6 points per game this season, sitting him behind West Liberty's Bryce Butler and Notre Dame College's Jaedon Willis. On the defensive end, Korte sits fourth in the conference in rebounding, finishing with 7.3 rebounds per game, and sixth in total rebound (183). Korte completed the breakout year by joining exclusive company when he became the 49th Cardinal to reach the 1,000 career points milestone in the team's game against Fairmont State back on February 15th. He finished the season with six double doubles and heads into the tournament looking to continue his success.
With the first team award, Korte becomes the first Cardinal to grab First-Team All-MEC honors since the 2018 season when former Cardinals Haywood Highsmith and Pat Moseh each made the first team. Korte joins a First Team All-MEC group that includes Bryce Butler (WLU), Daniel Rahama (CU), Sam Rolle IV (D&E), Isaiah Sanders (FAIR), Jordan Turbo Smith (GSU), Keith Williams (UC), and Jaedon Willis (NDC). Korte is the 23rd Wheeling University student athlete to earn all conference honors this season. He is the 5th winter athlete to earn the honor as the Cardinals are now 10 away from the mark they set last season.
The Wheeling University Men's Basketball team kicks off the 2023 MEC Tournament on Wednesday, March 1st with tip-off at 6 PM.
