Courtesy of LA Tech Athletic Communications
Louisiana Tech’s Dravon Mangum and Silvia Nativi were each one of five players selected to the 2023-24 Conference USA Men’s and Women’s Basketball All-Academic Teams, in an announcement made by the league office on Friday.
Louisiana Tech joined Liberty and WKU as the only two CUSA schools who had a student athlete selected for both teams.
Mangum carries a 3.60 cumulative grade point average while pursuing his master’s degree in Counseling and Guidance (received his undergraduate degree in Communications).
The Roxboro, North Carolina native has primarily been a sixth man for the Bulldogs in his second season at LA Tech. He has played in 29 games including eight starts, averaging 5.7 points and 3.8 rebounds per game.
The forward has registered four double-digit scoring games including a career-high 23 points versus WKU. He has also pulled down at least five rebounds in 10 contests this season including a season-high 10, which he did in back-to-back games against Colorado State and Lyon College to open the season.
Mangum becomes the first Bulldog since Mubarak Muhammed in 2020 to receive this academic honor.
Nativi has been a massive factor for the Lady Techsters in her three seasons in Ruston. The junior has started 82 of 95 games in her career, including all 30 this season. She has a career average of 4.4 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 2.8 assists a game.
This season, Nativi has been one of the top distributors in the league. She ranks fourth with 102 assists and fifth with 3.4 apg. She also ranks fifth with a 1.4 assist-to-turnover ratio. She has three or more assists in 16 games this year, with nine games of 5+, including a career-high 10 at Jacksonville State on Feb. 15.
In the classroom, Nativi is majoring in accounting and boasts a 3.898 GPA. Last season, she was named to the CUSA All-Academic team and earned a spot on the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District team. During her first two seasons, she was a CUSA Academic Medalist and CUSA Commissioner’s Honor Roll Recipient both years.
2024 CUSA Women’s Basketball All-Academic Team
Courtney Prenger, FIU
Olivia Trice, FIU
Emma Hess, Liberty
Silvia Nativi, Louisiana Tech
Teresea Faustino, WKU
2023-24 CUSA All-Academic Team
Mason Nicholson, Jacksonville State
Dravon Mangum, Louisiana Tech
Kyle Rode, Liberty
Colin Porter, Liberty
Brandon Newman, WKU
