The Rider News 2022-23 men’s and women’s players of the year

Dwight Murray Jr. 

By Benjamin Shinault 

For the second consecutive year, Rider men’s basketball’s senior guard and captain, Dwight Murray Jr., was voted The Rider News’ 2022-2023 men’s player of the year. The award was decided via a poll sent out via the newspaper and social media. 

Murray, during his 2022 campaign, was the player that opposing teams had to plan for. Whether it was his passing ability, his 3-point shot or his overall leadership on and off the court, Murray was one of the many elite players on the Broncs this past season. 

Rider didn’t have the result they were hoping for in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Tournament, as they lost to the 10th seeded Saint Peter’s Peacocks 70-62, but Murray had plenty of highlights during the 2022- 2023 regular season. 

With regular season averages of 15.7 points, 3.0 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game, while shooting roughly 42% from the field and 40% from beyond the arc, it’s easy to see why Murray led the Broncs in scoring in his final season. 

Murray got right to work in the early stages of the season as he scored 18 points, grabbed six rebounds and assisted on four buckets all on national television in the Broncs season opener against Providence. And just two games later against Central Arkansas, the two-time all-MAAC guard, scored 30 points while shooting 59% from the field. 

According to Murray, he had one key moment during the 2022 season that he believes was one of his most memorable. “It was probably getting the jump ball against Marist just because I told my team we need to get the jump ball for us to get the ball back for Allen Powell to hit the game-winning shot,” said Murray. 

Murray earned this honor in back-to-back years and this is what he stated when asked what he owed this award to: “I owe this to myself. I worked hard for this and I am just in shock. I mean, I owe this to everyone else that helped me to get to this position.” 

With the 2022-2023 season being the last for Murray in cranberry, Murray looks toward a professional career and the 2023 NBA Draft on June 22. 

“Currently, I’m trying to make it to the NBA and it will happen only by God’s will but that’s what I’m pursuing,” Murray said. 

As Murray’s career with the Broncs comes to a close, he will likely go down as one of the most decorated and talented Broncs to dribble through the Alumni Gym.

Carolo Pascale/The Rider News 

Teagan Schein-Becker 

By Logan VanDine 

After polling the Rider community, graduate student distance runner Teagan Schein-Becker was voted as The Rider News’ 2022-23 women’s player of the year. The award was decided on a poll that was sent out via the newspaper and displayed on social media. 

Schein-Becker had a strong track season, setting three indoor track records in the 800-meter, the mile and the distance medley which helped crown her as the 2023 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Indoor Champion. 

If that was not enough, during the spring season, Schein-Becker broke her own outdoor records in the 800-meter with a time of 2:02.77, and in the 1500-meters with a time of 4:10.42, which, respectively, were among the top-15 nationally. Schein-Becker first joined the track and cross country teams during the 2018-19 season and despite some injuries she faced, still made an impact immediately. 

The Pennsylvania native was named to the MAAC all-rookie team thanks to her strong finish at the MAAC Cross Country Championships and posting a season-best time of 23:23.5 in the 6K at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Cross Country Championships. 

During her 2020-21 cross country season, Schein-Becker ran a collegiate-best in the 5K Jasper Individual, with an impressive time of 19:39.6. 

On top of that, Schein-Becker became a member of the MAAC All-Academic Team with a major in graphic design, minoring in art. 

This award especially means so much for Schein-Becker as injuries mounted throughout her career early on at Rider. 

“I am super grateful. It’s been a long process and a long journey,” said Schein- Becker. “For many years, I have been struggling with injuries and stuff, so I feel like I finally got on my feet and got the ball rolling and everything is smooth now, so [I’m] very grateful to be healthy. But one thing that really stood out to me that my coach said was ‘if you really want to do this, you have to figure out how to prioritize it and push away everything’,and after that day I was like ‘okay got it.”’ 

Schein-Becker also talked about how crazy it was breaking these Rider records and how she thought with all the injuries she was going through early on, it wouldn’t be possible. 

“It was definitely a surprise, but a really cool surprise,” she said. “I came here my freshman year and I remember looking at the Rider records thinking that I’m going to be there one day.”