CHARLOTTE – Gardner-Webb wings Jose Perez and Nate Johnson each earned a spot on the preseason All-Big South Conference men's basketball team, announced as part of the league's annual Media Day Tuesday morning.

Perez (Bronx, N.Y. / Putnam Science Academy) was named first-team All-Big South by the league's head coaches and select media. 

He ranked second on Gardner-Webb's stat sheet last season with 15.1 points per game and led the team with averages of 5.7 rebounds and 3.0 assists per contest. The 6-foot-5, 200-pound sophomore was in the mix for the league's preseason Player of the Year honor – a spot he was tabbed earlier this fall by Athlon and Blue Ribbon College Basketball Handbook.

Perez shot a solid 38.1 percent from three-point range last season and became the first freshman in school history to record 500+ points (528) and 100+ assists (105) in the same season. His point total ranked second all-time among the program's freshmen to former NBA All-Star John Drew, who scored 562 points during the 1972-73 season in Boiling Springs.

Perez led Gardner-Webb with 19 points in its first NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament game vs. eventual national champion Virginia.

Johnson (Miami, Fla. / McArthur HS) returns as one of the Big South's top two-way players in 2019-2020. He earned second-team preseason All-Big South honors from the league's head coaches and select media.

The 6-foot-3, 180-pound junior averaged a career-high 9.7 points per game last season, also supplying 4.0 rebounds and a team-high 1.5 steals per game. He shot an effective 38.8 percent from long range (62-of-160) and added a career-high 60 assists and 17 blocked shots.

Johnson netted double figures in scoring 19 times as a sophomore, with a career-high of 20 points coming in a comfortable win over UNC Wilmington on November 24 in Asheville, N.C. He scored 17 points and blocked a pair of shots at Virginia The in the season's second game.

The pair are two of six men returning for Gardner-Webb with starting experience for the 2019-2020 season. Head coach Tim Craft returns 10 letter winners from a team that posted 23 wins – including non-conference triumphs over Georgia Tech and Wake Forest – and its first ever Big South Conference title.

Gardner-Webb opens the 2019-2020 regular season at home, welcoming SoCon contender Furman for a 7:00 pm tip on Tuesday, November 5. For ticket information, call (704) 406-4340.