Men's Basketball | 4/18/2020 12:28:00 PM

    WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. - It's official! West Liberty University backcourt ace Luke Dyer is a national stat champion.
    The Hilltoppers' junior point guard led all NCAA men's basketball players - regardless of division - with a 5.90 Assist/Turnover Ratio, handing out 124 assists while committing just 21 turnovers for the entire 2019-20 season. Dyer will receive a commemorative plaque from the NCAA Office of Media Coordination and Statistics and the Hilltopper athletic department will also receive a plaque to put on permanent display.
    "Luke had a stellar season for us at both ends of the floor," WLU head coach Ben Howlett said, "but those assist/turnover numbers were just off the chart. Luke is the definition of a fighter and was a big factor in every one of our 27 wins. He's an incredibly important piece of the puzzle for us and we will be relying on him heavily when we get back on the court next season."
    While Dyer's assist/turnover numbers may not have technically been "off the charts," they came pretty close.
    His 5.90 Assist/Turnover Ratio is the second-highest ratio in NCAA basketball history. According to the 2019-20 NCAA Record Book, it's just the seventh time an NCAA men's basketball player has finished a season with an Assist/Turnover Ratio above 5.00.
    How close did Dyer come to setting an all-time NCAA record? Very close.
    The record of 5.96 was set just last year by Devin Whitelow of NCAA Division II Winona State. Had Dyer picked up just two more assists or been charted with one fewer turnover in his 775 minutes of game action this season, he would have become the first player ever to break the 6.00 barrier.
    But those aren't the numbers that draw the soft-spoken junior's competitive focus.
    "I like to see us win," Dyer said during a late-season interview. "I like it when Coach Howlett comes into the locker room all excited after a win. We emphasize that a lot. Every practice is about winning drills, winning the day and I love that! The best part of the game is winning."
    He certainly landed in the right place. The West Liberty men led NCAA Division II in wins over the past decade and have the best home winning percentage of any NCAA men's basketball program over that span.
    Now in his third season as WLU's starting point guard, Dyer has done his part to help build on that tradition. The Black and Gold have won three straight Mountain East Conference championships and posted a sparkling 81-13 (.862) record with the West Virginia native at the helm.
    Dyer was at his best this season as West Liberty came roaring down the stretch, winning 21 of its last 22 games to run away with another MEC championship before sweeping its way to an MEC Tournament title at WesBanco Arena in Wheeling. During a nine-game run from Jan. 22 to Feb. 19, Dyer handed out 39 assists while committing just one turnover in 231 minutes of game action.
    Putting that into perspective, no NCAA men's basketball player has ever finished with an Assist/Turnover Ratio of 6.00 or better but West Liberty's junior point guard had a 39.00 Assist/Turnover Ratio for nearly a month.
    Dyer checked off a lot of boxes on a nightly basis throughout the season. He led the Hilltoppers and ranked among the MEC leaders in assists and steals while also being charted with 5 or more rebounds on nine separate occasions.
    A 1,000-point scorer who drained just under 200 3-point field goals as a first-team All-West Virginia selection at Robert C. Byrd High School, Dyer averaged just under 6 points a game this season. He shot over 44 percent from the 3-point arc and hit double-figures four times but is more than willing to pass up a good shot to create a great shot for one of his teammates.
    "We have a bunch of really talented scorers on this team," Dyer said. "All I have to do is take care of the basketball and do my job."
    There were more than 1,100 starting point guards running NCAA offenses this season. Going by the numbers, it's hard to imagine any of them did their job better than Luke Dyer.