SIUE Assistant Coach Bubba Wells Recognized by Alma Mater

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – SIUE men's basketball Assistant Coach Bubba Wells has played in the NBA, has played internationally and has even played for the Harlem Globetrotters. For the past five seasons he has been on the bench for the Cougars. Before any of that, Wells was an award-winning student-athlete at Ohio Valley Conference member Austin Peay. He scored 2,267 points in his college career. He is the all-time scoring leader at his alma mater and remains the sixth leading scorer all-time in the OVC. He was the Freshman of the Year in the OVC in 1994 and an All-OVC first team pick the next three seasons. Wells was honored as the league's Male Athlete of the Year in 1996 and again in 1997.

Wells was chosen as the top basketball player to play at Austin Peay. Colby Wilson, Austin Peay's Associate Director of Athletics Communications, highlighted Wells' illustrious career recently for Letsgopeay.com:

As you've likely heard, we don't have any live-action contests to cover at LetsGoPeay.com right now. What we do have is free time; oodles and oodles of free time. Enough free time to swap oodles of emails with various people who would know to create a snapshot of the 10 best players in Austin Peay men's basketball history. The top spot goes to the scoring machine whose No. 13 will never be worn again by a Gov.
Charles "Bubba" Wells was more than a basketball player. He was an event.

Not many basketball players, no matter their accomplishments, get the state House of Representatives to recognize them for what they do on the court. But given his story and his success, Wells was more than a basketball player. During his Austin Peay career, he was an icon.

He could score. Good gracious could he score. He was the first man to score 2,000 points as a Gov and remains the program's all-time leader at a robust 2,267 points. He and Fly Williams are the only players to score 40 four times in an Austin Peay uniform and Wells still shares the Dunn Center record for single-game scoring with 43 points. Wells took (1,667) and made (program-record 870) a lot of shots; converting at a 52.1 percent clip from the floor, 40.5 percent from three, demonstrating an innate ability to put the biscuit in the basket however he needed to.

His senior campaign took him from local legend to national darling. A third stress fracture and second tibial nail surgery left the preseason All-American's final season in jeopardy. After missing the first 12 games, Wells returned on a minutes restriction… and scored 39 points in 28 minutes against Southeast Missouri his first game back. Soon, CBS, The Today Show, USA Today and The Los Angeles Times were among those interested in the Wells saga.

Wells didn't need a full campaign to earn Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year honors that season, or his third first-team All-OVC nod or second NABC All-District honor. About the only things that missing those dozen games cost him was the opportunity to put the program scoring record further out of reach or challenge Williams' single-season scoring mark — Wells put up more than 600 points in just 19 games, a gaudy 31.7 per night mark which easily would've led the NCAA if he'd qualified. Give him those games back at the same scoring rate and Wells could've put up close to 900 points that season alone.

It's not what you do in the abstract that counts, it's what remains on paper, so here's the Wells summary: three-time All-OVC, 1997 OVC Player of the Year, 1995 OVC Freshman of the Year, 1997 OVC Male Athlete of the Year, a trio of All-Tournament honors and Most Outstanding Player of the 1996 OVC Tournament, when he led the Govs to their first title under Dave Loos. Wells NEVER had a season end prior to the OVC title game; how many players in any walk of life can say that? He also maintains scoring records of all shapes and sizes, including the OVC Tournament single-game (43) and single-tournament (99) scoring records from that 1997 blitzkrieg.

Basketball has remained a part of Wells' identity ever since his playing days; after a pro career that took him from the NBA to the Philippines, Europe and the Harlem Globetrotters, Wells has now been a collegiate assistant for most of two decades, first in Clarksville and now at SIUE.