Six different Hilltoppers were recognized on Thursday evening at the annual awards banquet for Western Kentucky University men's basketball, held at E.A. Diddle Arena. WKU finished its second season under head coach Ken McDonald at 21-13, notching its Sun Belt Conference record sixth-straight 20-win campaign, the longest such stretch for the Hilltoppers in 65 years.

Now with 40 seasons of 20 or more wins, WKU ranks sixth all-time in NCAA history trailing only Kentucky (54), North Carolina (53), UCLA (45), Duke (45), and Louisville (43).

Seniors AJ Slaughter and Jeremy Evans, a duo that combined for two regular season Sun Belt Championships, two SBC Tournament titles, three NCAA Tournament wins, and a 97-40 ledger in four years on the Hill, walked away with the most hardware on the evening. Slaughter received the Darel Carrier Free Throw Accuracy Award, the Dwight Smith Playmaker of the Year Award, and highlighting his haul was the Clem Haskins Most Valuable Player Award.

The 6-3 guard from Shelbyville, Ky. shared MVP honors with Orlando Mendez-Valdez last season. This season, he was tabbed as the Sun Belt Conference Preseason Player of the Year and lived up to that billing, leading the Hilltoppers and ranking second in the league in scoring at 17.5 ppg on the season. Seeing more time on the court than any other player in the conference, averaging 36.5 mpg, Slaughter was the only player in the league to rank in the top four in the Sun Belt in assists, steals, free three percentage, and three-pointers made per game.

With 13 performances of 20 points or more this season, the Sun Belt All-Conference First-Team selection topped that scoring plateau more than any other player in the league. Averaging 19.2 ppg in conference play, Slaughter was the key catalyst in the Toppers stretch run. As WKU won its final six games of the regular season, Slaughter contributed 20.8 ppg, 6.3 apg, and had a three-to-one assist-to-turnover ratio. He was also named All-Tournament after leading WKU to the Sun Belt Tournament semifinals.

A three-time SBC Player of the Week winner this year, Slaughter eclipsed the 1,000-point mark in the season-opener against Wisconsin-Milwaukee when he scored a then-career-high 30. He posted double figures in scoring in 31 of 34 games this past season, jetting up the WKU career scoring list from 45th to 12th with 1,581 points.

Capping off his career, Slaughter dropped a career-high 31 points in a 99-69 win over South Alabama on February 18 on "senior night" at E.A. Diddle Arena.