THE 2012 COLLEGEINSiDER.COM MOST VALUABLE PLAYER

April 9, 2012

MURRAY STATE'S ISAIAH CANAAN NAMED MOST VALUABLE PLAYER

BOSTON, MA -- Murray State's Isaiah Canaan is the CollegeInsider.com National Most Valuable Player.

The 6-foot junior helped the Racers to a program record 31 wins and they were the only squad in the nation that didn't lose a road game this season. MSU went 31-2 and won the OVC's regular season and tournament titles. MSU earned the highest seed in program history at No. 6 and defeated Colorado State in the NCAA Tournament before losing to Marquette in the round of 32. MSU had its first national rankings since 1998 and highest (No. 7 ESPN/USA Today and No. 9 AP). MSU finished with their highest final rankings as well, No. 12 AP and No. 16 ESPN/USA Today.

Canaan, who showed a remarkable flair for the big moment, topped the 30-point mark in scoring four times. He led MSU to a championship win in double-overtime at the Great Alaska Shootout when he had a career-high 36 points against Southern Mississippi. In a game at Austin Peay, Canaan hit his first seven three-point attempts and scored 35 points. When the Racers were trailing in the second half against Southeast Missouri, he led a big run that included four threes in a short period of time and finished with 32 points. Canaan scored 31 in MSU's only regular season loss to Tennessee State.

He ended the season the 24th leading scorer in the nation (19.0 points per game), sixth in made threes per game (2.97) and 13th in three-point percentage (.456). Canaan was 36th in the nation in free throw percentage (.858) and 47th in steals per game (1.91).