South Carolina sweeps SEC basketball player of the year honors
March 7, 2017
The best men’s basketball and women’s basketball players in the SEC both hail from South Carolina.
The Gamecocks swept the SEC player of the year awards, with Sindarius Thornwell claiming the men’s basketball award and A’ja Wilson claiming the women’s basketball honor.
South Carolina is the fourth school in league history to claim both awards in the same season. The most recent school to accomplish the feat was Kentucky in 2012, when Anthony Davis won in men’s basketball and A’dia Mathies won in women’s basketball.
Thornwell was named the player of the year by the SEC coaches on Tuesday. He is the first winner of the SEC player of the year award in South Carolina men’s basketball history and only the second player to claim a conference player the year award (John Roche, ACC, 1969-70). The Lancaster, S.C., native averaged 21.2 points and 7.3 rebounds per game this season.
Wilson won her second straight SEC player of the year award on Feb. 28. The junior forward averaged 17.4 points and 7.6 rebounds per game this season, making her the second South Carolina women’s basketball player to go back-to-back on player of the year honors after Tiffany Mitchell won the award in 2013-14 and 2014-15. During her career at South Carolina, Wilson also has won the league’s defensive player of the year and was named the freshman player of the year.
March 7, 2017
The best men’s basketball and women’s basketball players in the SEC both hail from South Carolina.
The Gamecocks swept the SEC player of the year awards, with Sindarius Thornwell claiming the men’s basketball award and A’ja Wilson claiming the women’s basketball honor.
South Carolina is the fourth school in league history to claim both awards in the same season. The most recent school to accomplish the feat was Kentucky in 2012, when Anthony Davis won in men’s basketball and A’dia Mathies won in women’s basketball.
Thornwell was named the player of the year by the SEC coaches on Tuesday. He is the first winner of the SEC player of the year award in South Carolina men’s basketball history and only the second player to claim a conference player the year award (John Roche, ACC, 1969-70). The Lancaster, S.C., native averaged 21.2 points and 7.3 rebounds per game this season.
Wilson won her second straight SEC player of the year award on Feb. 28. The junior forward averaged 17.4 points and 7.6 rebounds per game this season, making her the second South Carolina women’s basketball player to go back-to-back on player of the year honors after Tiffany Mitchell won the award in 2013-14 and 2014-15. During her career at South Carolina, Wilson also has won the league’s defensive player of the year and was named the freshman player of the year.
