2018-19 SEC basketball awards announced

Grant Williams becomes the first two-time SEC Player of the Year since Corliss Williamson.

By RobertONeill31@RobertONeill31 Mar 12, 2019, 6:28pm EDT

NCAA Basketball: Tennessee at Mississippi

As the SEC Tournament gets underway Tuesday evening, the conference revealed the 2018-19 men’s basketball award winners Tuesday morning.

Without further ado, let’s get into it.

SEC Player of the Year - Grant Williams, Tennessee

As noted above, Williams is the first two-time winner since Corliss WIlliamson won in 1993-94 and 1994-95, and it’s not hard to see why the Tennessee junior received the recognition, as he led the SEC in scoring at 19.9 points per game and finished fifth in rebounds per game at 7.7, joining Arkansas’ Daniel Gafford as the only player in the top five of both stats. It’s also worth noting that Williams is only a junior, and could return to school and join Bernard King and Pete Maravich as the SEC’s only three-time Player of the Year winners.

SEC Freshman of the Year - Keldon Johnson, Kentucky

No real surprise here. Johnson’s 13.7 points and 5.5 rebounds per game have helped the Wildcats to a 26-5 record this season as they gear up for another NCAA Tournament run. Johnson becomes the ninth John Calipari coached player to win SEC Freshman of the Year.

SEC Coach of the Year - Kermit Davis, Ole Miss

Far from shocking here, as well. Ole Miss was picked to finish last in the SEC this season and finished seventh in the conference with a 20-11 record going into the SEC Tournament. The Rebels finished the 2017-18 season at 12-20, so Davis’ improvement has been significant.

SEC Co-Defensive Players of the Year - Ashton Hagans, Kentucky and Tremont Waters, LSU

The pair of guards split the award as Waters averaged 3.1 steals per game, second best in the country behind Washington’s Matisse Thybulle. Hagans, meanwhile, finished fourth in the conference in steals per game and in the top 10 in defensive win shares.

The first and second teams can be found blow, along with the all-freshman and all-defensive teams.

First Team All-SEC

Daniel Gafford, Arkansas

PJ Washington, Kentucky

Tremont Waters, LSU

Breein Tyree, Ole Miss

Quinndary Weatherspoon, Mississippi St.

Chris Silva, South Carolina

Admiral Schofield, Tennessee

Grant Williams, Tennessee

Second Team All-SEC

Bryce Brown, Auburn

Jared Harper, Auburn

Nicolas Claxton, Georgia

Tyler Herro, Kentucky

Keldon Johnson, Kentucky

Skylar Mays, LSU

Terence Davis, Ole Miss

Jordan Bone, Tennessee

All-Freshman Team

Kira Lewis Jr., Alabama

Isaiah Joe, Arkansas

Andrew Nembhard, Florida

Tyler Herro, Kentucky

Keldon Johnson, Kentucky

Naz Reid, LSU

Reggie Perry, Mississippi State

A.J. Lawson, South Carolina

All-Defensive Team

Donta Hall, Alabama