BOONE, N.C. – App State won 19 games and made its second consecutive postseason appearance to highlight the 2021-22 season, head coach
Dustin Kerns' third at the helm.
Several firsts were achieved and records were broken this past season in Boone, as noted below.
App State is expected to return a core group of student-athletes despite the loss of super-senior guards
Michael Almonacy and
Justin Forrest, who helped the team achieve many records and make their first NCAA Tournament appearance in more than 20 years in 2021.
Adrian Delph, a first-team All-Sun Belt selection, declared for the NBA Draft this week, while maintaining his eligibility to return to App State.
2021-22 App State Basketball Highlights:
- First time in program history that App State made consecutive postseason appearances
- 19 wins were the most since 2009-10
- The second-place finish in the Sun Belt Conference standings and 12-6 league record were the Mountaineers' best since joining the league. The 12 league wins were App State's most since winning 13 Southern Conference games in 2009-10.
- Three straight winning seasons for the first time since 1997-2000
- Made the Sun Belt Tournament semifinals for the second straight year (had never advanced to the semis before last year)
- Six Sun Belt road wins were the most in school history
- App State played the 26th-toughest nonconference schedule in the country. It faced 11 teams that advanced to the postseason, including NCAA Tournament teams Duke, North Carolina, Akron, Vermont, Delaware and Georgia State. Other postseason bound foes include Iona (NIT), Texas State (NIT), Troy (CBI), South Alabama (TBC) and Coastal Carolina (TBC).
- Season attendance total of 42,620 fans set a record for the Holmes Center that opened in 2000
- The six-game winning streak from Jan. 13-29, 2022, was the longest for the program since 2010.
- Swept the season series vs. South Alabama (2-0) for the first time, while also sweeping season series against Georgia Southern (3-0), Coastal Carolina (2-0) and Little Rock (2-0)
- Adrian Delph became the second Mountaineer to earn First Team All-Sun Belt honors, joining Justin Forrest (2019-20). Delph also received First Team NABC All-District distinction.
- Justin Forrest became the second player in program history to amass 2,000 career points.
- App State is No. 3 in the NCAA in fewest fouls committed per game (12.9) and No. 21 in fewest turnovers committed per game (10.3).
- The team's overall scoring defense of 63.1 ppg leads the Sun Belt and ranks 27th nationally.
- The Mountaineers also rank 48th in 3-point field goal defense (30.9%) and 64th in assist-turnover ratio (1.22) out of 358 NCAA Division I teams.
- Since the start of the 2019-20, App State has overcome 18 halftime deficits, which is tied for third most in the nation over the last three seasons.
- Dustin Kerns earned his 50th win in his 87th game at App State, the fifth-fastest head coach in program history to reach that mark.
