CLEVELAND – Northern Illinois University sophomore Austin Pauga (Naperville, Ill./IMG Academy) was named to the Men's Basketball Academic All-MAC Team announced today by the league office. Pauga is one of 17 student-athletes from the conference to earn the honor. 

"We are very pleased for Austin to receive this recognition," said NIU head coach Mark Montgomery. "Austin works extremely hard in the classroom, in a very demanding major, and I am happy to see his hard work as a student-athlete get rewarded." 

Pauga, who holds a 3.782 GPA as a mechanical engineering major, appeared in 30 games during the 2016-17 season, averaging 3.2 points per contest while playing 13.3 minutes per game. Pauga shot 42.9 percent (18-of-42) from behind the three-point line during conference play, the seventh-best mark in the MAC. Pauga scored a season-high 12 points against Toledo on Feb. 18. 

The sophomore from Naperville is NIU's first Academic All-MAC honoree since Anthony Johnson in 2014-15. 

The Academic All-MAC honor is for a student-athletes who have excelled in athletics and academics. To qualify, a student-athlete must have at least a 3.20 cumulative GPA and have participated in at least 50 percent of the contests for that particular sport.