SAN MATEO, Calif. – For the third-consecutive year, five University of San Francisco men's basketball players earned West Coast Conference All-Academic honors as announced by the conference office on Wednesday. The Dons set the standard conference-wide, with four players earning first team honors while no other program had more than one.
 
Juniors Damari Milstead, Dzmitry Ryuny, and Khalil Shabazz earned first team distinction. Sophomore Jonas Visser also garnered first team accolades and senior Taavi Jurkatamm took home honorable mention honors.

To qualify, a student-athlete must be of at least sophomore standing, own a minimum 3.20 grade point average and be a starter or an important reserve, having participated in at least 50% of the institution's completed contests.
 
Milstead, a management major with a 3.76 grade point average, takes home first team honors in his first year eligible. The Oakland, Calif., native played in 22 games and making four starts for the Dons in 2020-21.  He averaged 4.7 points per game and 1.48 assists per game, and scored a season-high 24 points in USF's win over Long Beach State.
 
2021 marks the second all-academic honor for Ryuny, but the first time he has earned first team recognition. He took home honorable mention accolades in 2019-20, his first year eligible. The management major sports a 3.73 GPA. Last season, the native of Minsk, Belarus had a breakout season, finishing with career-bests in games played, minutes played, points, points per game, and rebounds. He played in 25 games last season, with 21 starts.  His final outing of the season might have been his best in the green and gold: he scored a season-high 19 points while going 6-for-8 from beyond the arc against Loyola Marymount in the WCC Tournament.
 
Shabazz takes home first team honors for the first time. The redshirt junior is a communications major with a 3.22 GPA. Last season, he played in and started all 25 games for the Dons, finishing second on the team in scoring. He boasted seven 20-point performances, including 31 points against UMass-Lowell and 30 points against BYU.
 
Visser is an entrepreneurship and innovation major with a perfect 4.0 GPA and 2021 is his first time eligible for the award. The sophomore played in 23 games making two starts. He scored 2.2 points per game and grabbed 1.2 rebounds per contest.
 
Jurkatamm, the lone senior on the list, earns all-academic honors for the first time. The international studies major finished with a 3.25 GPA. In his final season on the Hilltop, he played in 25 games, making a career-best 23 starts. He put up career-highs in every offensive statistical category including points (143), points per game (5.7), field goals (51), and 3-point field goals (23).
 
As a team, the Dons excelled in the classroom in 2020-21. USF finished the fall semester with a team GPA of 3.63. 12 players finished with a GPA of 3.0 or higher, nine players finished with a 3.5 of higher. Justin Bieker, Ryuny and Visser all had perfect 4.0s.