March 5, 2010

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- UAB senior guard George Drake has been selected to the 2009-10 C-USA All-Academic team, as voted on by the SIDs from around the league. In order to be eligible for the award, men's basketball players have to maintain a 3.2 grade point average and be a valuable contributor to a team.

Drake is in his first season in graduate school at UAB and maintains a GPA of 3.33 in health promotions. He received his undergraduate degree in sociology with a minor in political science from Vanderbilt University in 2009. Drake excelled academically at Vanderbilt as well, earning the Scholar Athlete of the Year in 2007.

This season with the Blazers, the Calera, Ala. native has played in all 29 contests this season for the Blazers, starting 18 times. He is averaging 6.9 points, 2.9 rebounds and 27.0 minutes per game. Earlier this season, Drake, who leads UAB in free throw shooting at 84.1 percent, collected a career-high 21 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the floor ina victory at South Alabama (12/19).

Drake is joined on the five-player team by junior guard Isaac Gordon of UTEP, Rice sophomores Connor Frizzelle and Lucas Kuipers and UCF's Isaac Sosa.

The 2010 GMC Sierra C-USA Men's Basketball Championship will begin Wednesday, March 10 inside the BOK Center located in downtown Tulsa, Okla. The quarterfinal games are on Thursday with semifinal games scheduled for Friday and championship play on Saturday.

2009-10 C-USA Men's Basketball All-Academic Team

NAME - SCHOOL - YEAR - GPA - MAJOR
Connor Frizzelle - Rice - Sophomore - 3.40 - Undecided
Lucas Kuipers - Rice - Sophomore - 3.28 - Undecided
George Drake - UAB - Graduate - 3.33 - Master's in Health Education
Isaac Sosa - UCF - Sophomore - 3.62 - General Business
Isaac Gordon - UTEP - Junior - 3.85 - Accounting