Following a breakout debut season with a team high 389 points and 47 steals, averaging 13.4 points per game, sophomore Paul McCoy, last week, was selected to the preseason All-Conference USA team by Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook.

“I have to live up to this now,” McCoy said. “I need to win games and just play. I got the award because of my achievements last year, so this season I just need to have a better season than I did last year.”

McCoy became the first freshman to lead SMU in scoring with the program’s fourth-highest point total, placing him a in fourth-place tie for the highest scoring average by a freshman. In McCoy’s 11th career game, he put up a season-high 32 points against Texas A&M Corpus Christi.

McCoy led Conference USA freshmen in scoring, finishing 15th in scoring, ninth in free throw percentage, sixth in steals and 15th in assist-to-turnover ratio. Among all C-USA freshmen, McCoy led in field goal percentage and minutes played, was second in scoring and steals and fourth in assist-to-turnover ratio.

Despite going just 9-21 overall and 3-13 in C-USA, McCoy said he feels the team is already moving in a positive direction and can produce more wins than fans saw last year.

“We’ve got to come together,” McCoy said about making the team better. “This year we have more experience and I think our team chemistry is a lot better between open gyms and practices.”

Last season, McCoy started in 29 of 30 games, totaling 1,000 minutes and 34.5 minutes per game. The Portland, Ore. native also led the team with a .366 three-point average and 21 double-digit scoring games, including 12 games with 15 or more points.

In the one game McCoy missed due to a sprained right ankle, the Mustangs suffered an 89-77 loss to the University of Houston.

At the end of his first season, McCoy was named to the C-USA All-Freshman Team. The 5-foot-11, 175 pound guard was also a two-time C-USA Rookie of the Week and the No.12 freshman according to Basketball Prospectus in January 2009.

The Blue Ribbon forecast projects SMU finish sixth in C-USA with the help of two seniors, five juniors, six sophomores and two freshmen. Tulsa tops the current preseason charts, followed by Memphis and the University of Texas at El Paso, respectively.

The Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook is considered to be one of the most comprehensive college basketball publications in the world, (according to the organization’s Web site.) The book includes up-to-date evaluations about every Division I team in the country, including a preseason Top 25 poll.

“My thing this year is just to win,” McCoy said. “I’ll do whatever I’ve got to do to help the team win. That’s my role this season.”