INDIANAPOLIS – UIC junior Tarkus Ferguson is one of ten Horizon League players named to the conference's All-League Team as voted on by the conference's head coaches, sports information directors and media members. He claimed a spot on the five-member Second Team.

Ferguson is believed to be one of two NCAA Division I players to lead his team in points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks and minutes. Both play in the Horizon League. The other, Green Bay's Sandy Cohen III, was selected to the Horizon League's First Team. Ferguson and Cohen III are the only two Horizon League players to rank in the top 10 in each of those categories.

The Belleville, Ill., native ranks 10^th in the conference in scoring with 15.3 points per game. UIC's balanced offensive attack features two other players – Marcus Ottey and Godwin Boahen – who rank 11^th and 12^th in the Horizon League in scoring with 15.1 and 14.8 points per game, respectively.

In all games, Ferguson is second in the League in assists (5.2 apg), third in minutes (36.4 mpg), fourth in steals (1.5 spg), sixth in the conference in total rebounding (6.7 rpg) and 10^th in blocks (0.8 bpg). He ranks third with 3.0 3-point field goals per game, sixth in 3-point field goal percentage (.364) and 11^th in total field goal percentage (.409).

Ferguson recorded seven double-doubles on the season, including one triple-double. He also did it four times with points and rebounds and twice with points and assists. This year Ferguson has scored 20 points or more seven times, grabbed double-digit rebounds five times and handed out at least 10 assists three times. He has started all 31 games this season and all 94 games he has played at UIC.

He enters the postseason with 94 3-pointers made on the year, which ties him with Josh Mayo (2007-08) for UIC's single-season record. He made at least four 3-pointers 14 times in 31 games, including a career-high seven against Youngstown State on Jan. 10. All seven came in the first half of that game.

Ferguson was named Horizon League Player of the Week on Feb. 4 after helping UIC take down co-conference champions Wright State (Feb. 1) and Northern Kentucky (Feb. 3). Ferguson was one of two UIC players to score 17 points, while shooting 58 percent from the floor, to help his team take down Wright State on Feb. 1, 67-53. He added five rebounds, five assists and two steals as the Flames completed their first regular-season sweep of the Raiders since the 2014-15 campaign. Ferguson played more 36 minutes and served as integral part of a defensive effort that held Wright State to its lowest scoring output of the season, and the fewest points allowed by UIC this season.

With a quick turnaround, Ferguson and his teammates welcomed first-place Northern Kentucky to town on Feb. 3. The Belleville, Ill., native nearly pulled off his second triple-double of the season behind 19 points, nine rebounds and eight assists (all team highs) as UIC took down the Norse, 69-67. Ferguson's most important assist was the final one as we was the trigger man on a baseline out-of-bounds play that led to Jamie Ahale's game-winning 3-pointer. After his first option was taken away by the NKU defense, Ferguson spotted a Ahale in the right corner and fired a bullet pass that led to the biggest basket of the game with 2.5 seconds remaining in the game.

In addition to Cohen III, the other members of the Horizon League First Team are: Drew McDonald/Northern Kentucky (Player of the Year), Antoine Davis/Detroit Mercy, Xavier Hill-Mais/Oakland and Loudon Love/Wright State. The chart below illustrates where each First Team player and Ferguson ranks in the Horizon League in points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks and minutes:
 

	Pts	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	Min
Davis, Detroit Mercy	1	X	10	X	X	1
Cohen III, Green Bay	6	8	4	1	5	8
McDonald, Northern Kentucky	2	1	16	X	X	18
Hill-Mais, Oakland	4	5	25	X	13	14
Love, Wright State	9	3	X	X	8	X
Ferguson, UIC	10	6	2	4	10	3

x - player is outside conference's top 25
 
Curiously, Ferguson was left off the All-Defensive Team, which is selected only by the Horizon League's 10 head coaches. He led the conference in steals during conference games only with 1.8 per game and ranked second behind McDonald with 6.7 defensive rebounds per game as a 6'4" guard. Ferguson led a team defensive effort that led the Horizon League in defensive field goal percentage in both League play (.398) and all games (.417). The Flames ranked third in scoring defense in conference games (71.1 ppg) and fourth in all games (74.3 ppg).

Ferguson is the second UIC player to earn All-League honors in four seasons under head coach Steve McClain. Dikembe Dixson was a Second Team selection as a freshman in 2015-16. Tai Odiase was named to the All-Defensive Team three times and earned two Defensive Player of the Year Awards, while Boahen was the League's Sixth Man of the Year last season.

Ferguson and the Flames will meet Cohen III and the Phoenix on Tuesday night in a quarterfinal game of the 2019 Little Caesars Horizon League Men's Basketball Championship. The game tips off inside the Resch Center at 7 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN+.

A list of all Horizon League award winners is below:

2019 Horizon League Men's Basketball Award Winners
Player of the Year: Drew McDonald, Northern Kentucky
Defensive Player of the Year: D.J. McCall, IUPUI
Freshman of the Year: Antoine Davis, Detroit Mercy
Sixth Man of the Year: Jaylen Minnett, IUPUI
Coach of the Year: Scott Nagy, Wright State

All-League First Team (alphabetical by school)
Antoine Davis, Detroit Mercy
Sandy Cohen III, Green Bay
Drew McDonald, Northern Kentucky
Xavier Hill-Mais, Oakland
Loudon Love, Wright State

All-League Second Team (alphabetical by school)
Tyree Appleby, Cleveland State
Camron Justice, IUPUI
Tarkus Ferguson, UIC
Bill Wampler, Wright State
Darius Quisenberry, Youngstown State

All-Freshman Team (alphabetical by school)
Rashad Williams, Cleveland State
Antoine Davis, Detroit Mercy
Braden Norris, Oakland
Malachi Smith, Wright State
Darius Quisenberry, Youngstown State

All-Defensive Team (alphabetical by school)
D.J. McCall, IUPUI
Jalen Tate, Northern Kentucky
Parker Ernsthausen, Wright State
Mark Hughes, Wright State
Garrett Covington, Youngstown State