Coaches name Kentucky’s Monk SEC Freshman of the Year. Two other Cats earn all-league honors.
University of Kentucky guard Malik Monk was named Southeastern Conference freshman basketball player of the year on Tuesday, a distinction that’s becoming quite common during the John Calipari era.
Monk is the seventh Wildcat in the last eight seasons under Calipari and the eighth overall to win the league’s top freshman award.
Also Tuesday, Monk and fellow freshman guard De’Aaron Fox were name to the All-SEC First Team by the league’s coaches. Freshman forward Bam Adebayo received Second Team recognition. Adebayo, Fox and Monk were named to the All-Freshman Team.
The league’s coaches named Sindarius Thornwell of South Carolina their player of the year and Florida’s Mike White their coach of the year.
Kentucky, the regular-season league champion, was the only school with as many as three players on First and Second teams.
All three UK players honored rank among the top 20 freshman scorers in program history. Monk is third with 656 points, Fox is 16th with 450 points and Adebayo is 20th with 411.
Monk averaged 21.2 points per game, edging Thornwell by .001 of a point for the regular-season scoring title. His points per game ranks in the top 20 nationally.
Fox led the league in assists per game at 5.0. He also ranked in the top 10 in scoring at 15.5 points per game. He is one of three freshmen in the country to average at least 15.5 points and 5.0 assists per game. Markelle Fultz of Washington and Dennis Smith Jr. of North Carolina State are the others.
Adebayo scored in double figures in 24 of his last 28 games and averaged 13.9 points and 7.4 rebounds per game during league competition. He has a team-high five double-doubles with three coming among his last six games.
Kentucky opens SEC Tournament play Friday in Nashville, Tenn. UK will take on the winner of Thursday’s Georgia-Tennessee game on Friday at 1 p.m. EST. The game will air live on the SEC Network.
All-SEC
AWARDS
Coach of the Year: Mike White, Florida
Player of the Year: Sindarius Thornwell, South Carolina
Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Luke Kornet, Vanderbilt
Freshman of the Year: Malik Monk, Kentucky
Sixth-Man of the Year: Canyon Barry, Florida
Defensive Player of the Year: Robert Williams, Texas A&M
FIRST TEAM
KeVaughn Allen, Florida
J.J. Frazier, Georgia
Yante Maten, Georgia
De’Aaron Fox, Kentucky
Malik Monk, Kentucky
Sebastian Saiz, Ole Miss
Sindarius Thornwell, South Carolina
Luke Kornet, Vanderbilt
SECOND TEAM
Moses Kingsley, Arkansas
Kasey Hill, Florida
Bam Adebayo, Kentucky
Antonio Blakeney, LSU
Quinndary Weatherspoon, Mississippi State
Robert Hubbs III, Tennessee
Tyler Davis, Texas A&M
Robert Williams, Texas A&M
ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM
Braxton Key, Alabama
Mustapha Heron, Auburn
Bam Adebayo, Kentucky
De’Aaron Fox, Kentucky
Malik Monk, Kentucky
Lamar Peters, Mississippi St.
Grant Williams, Tennessee
Robert Williams, Texas A&M
ALL-DEFENSIVE TEAM
Moses Kingsley, Arkansas
Kasey Hill, Florida
Sindarius Thornwell, South Carolina
Robert Williams, Texas A&M
Luke Kornet, Vanderbilt
This story was originally published March 7, 2017 at 12:53 PM with the headline "Coaches name Kentucky’s Monk SEC Freshman of the Year. Two other Cats earn all-league honors.."