BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The University of Alabama”s JaMychal Green and the University of Mississippi”s Chris Warren were named Tuesday first-team All-Southeastern Conference, while Mississippi State”s Riley Benock was named the SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
MSU”s Dee Bost and Alabama”s Tony Mitchell also were named second-team All-SEC, Ole Miss” Reginald Buckner was chosen to the All-Defensive team, and Alabama”s Trevor Releford was selected to the All-Freshman squad.
Green, who earned the second all-conference honor of his career, was one of eight student-athletes selected to the first team. He leads the Crimson Tide with 16 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 2.1 blocked shots per game, and ranks in the top 10 in the league in scoring, rebounding, field goal percentage, blocked shots, and steals. He is Alabama”s first student-athlete to earn first-team honors since Richard Hendrix in 2008.
Warren is the first Ole Miss player to receive first-team honors since Justin Reed in 2004. He was a second-team selection a year ago.
Warren is second in the league in scoring (18.9 points per game) and leads the nation in free-throw percentage (93.5). He is fifth in the SEC in assists (3.8 per game), fourth in 3-pointers made (2.7 per game), third in assist-turnover ratio (1.9), and fourth in minutes (34.4).
This is the second season in a row Bost, a native of Concord, N.C., has been named second-team All-SEC. He is second on the team at 15.3 points per game, and his 95 assists are tops in league play. He is 75 assists shy of tying the school record of 514 held by Derrick Zimmerman. Earlier this year, Bost became the 33rd player in school history to record 1,000 points for a career.
“It”s a great honor to be recognized,” Bost said. “There are a lot of great players in this league, and to mentioned with them is a blessing.”
Said Bost on not making the first team, “That ain”t good enough.”
Bost also was a finalist for the Howell Trophy, given annually to the top collegiate basketball player in the state of Mississippi. Southern Mississippi”s Gary Flowers won that award.
Benock, who has appeared in all 30 games (29 starts) this season, has a cumulative 3.97 grade-point average and will graduate in May with a degree in Kinesiology. In six of his first seven semesters at MSU, he has achieved a 4.0. Two weeks ago, the Battletown, Ky., native was named third-team Capital One Academic All-American.
In May, he”ll attend physical therapy school at Bellarmine University in Louisville, Ky.
“I came to Mississippi State to play basketball, but my first priority was academics,” he said. “From day one, I knew I had to prepare for life after basketball, and that starts in the classroom.”
The only other MSU player to win the Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award was Shane Power in 2004.
Mitchell also collected his second career SEC honor after averaging 15.5 points and 7.2 rebounds per outing while shooting 52.7 percent from the field and leading the team and the league in steals.
With another record-breaking season of blocked shots, Buckner earned a spot on the five-man All-Defensive team. He has shattered his school record for blocked shots in a season with 92. He set the record as a freshman last season (64). The Memphis, Tenn., native is second in the SEC and ninth in the country with 3.1 blocked shots per game.
Releford is just the fourth freshman to start the season at point guard for Alabama. He is averaging 10.4 points with 3.4 assists per outing. He is the 10th Alabama student-athlete to earn SEC All-Freshman accolades since 2000, and joins current teammates Green and Mitchell in having earned all-freshman status.
Florida”s Billy Donovan earned SEC Coach of the Year honors and Florida senior forward Chandler Parsons was selected SEC Player of the Year by the league”s coaches. Kentucky”s Terrence Jones took the SEC Freshman of the Year award, Sam Muldrow of South Carolina was picked as the SEC Defensive Player of the Year, and Tennessee ”s Brian Williams earned SEC Sixth Man of the Year honors.
Coaches voted on eight-member teams for the first- and second-team All-SEC squads and the All-Freshman Team. They voted on a five-player squad for the All-Defensive Team. They weren”t permitted to vote for their players, and ties were not broken.
Staff writer David Miller contributed to this report.
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