2015 SEC Men's Basketball Awards announced



Photo: B.C. Romano

Birmingham, Ala. -- The Southeastern Conference unveiled its men's basketball coaches' postseason awards Tuesday to cap off another exciting season of SEC basketball.

Kentucky's John Calipari earned SEC Coach of the Year honors while Arkansas sophomore Bobby Portis was selected the SEC Player of the Year by the league's coaches. Alabama's Levi Randolph earned SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Kentucky's Willie Cauley-Stein was named SEC Defensive Player of the Year, Karl-Anthony Towns was tabbed SEC Freshman of the Year and Devin Booker was voted SEC Sixth Man of the Year.

This is the second SEC Coach of the Year honor for Calipari, who led the Wildcats to a perfect 31-0 regular season record that included an 18-0 mark in league play. The 31 consecutive wins to open the season are the most in SEC history and the 31-game winning streak is the second-longest in SEC history. Kentucky earned its third SEC championship under his direction and the 46th in school history.

Portis averages 17.8 points, 8.7 rebounds and 1.5 blocks while posting 11 double-double this season. Portis becomes the first Razorback to win the award since Corliss Williamson won back-to-back honors in 1994 and 1995.

Randolph sports a 3.45 undergraduate grade-point average and a 3.75 graduate level grade point average in Marketing. The senior from Madison, Ala., became the first Academic All-American in Alabama men's basketball history when he was named a second team selection earlier this month.

Towns, who is a finalist for the Wayman Tisdale Award for national freshman of the year, is averaging 9.7 points and a team-high 6.6 rebounds for the top-ranked Wildcats.

Booker, who is also a finalist for the Tisdale Award, comes off the bench to average 10.9 points and shot 43.6 percent (51-of-117) from behind the 3-point arc.

First-team and second-team All-SEC honorees, All-Freshman team, All-Defensive team, along with Player, Coach and Freshman, Defensive, Sixth-Man and Scholar-Athlete of the Year were chosen by the league's 14 coaches. Ties were not broken.

A complete list of the 2015 SEC Men's Basketball postseason awards follows:

First Team All-SEC

Bobby Portis, Arkansas - F, 6-11, 242, So., Little Rock, Ark.

Willie Cauley-Stein, Kentucky - F, 7-0, 240, Jr., Olathe, Kan.

Karl-Anthony Towns, Kentucky - F, 6-11, 250, Fr., Piscataway, N.J.

Jarell Martin, LSU - F, 6-10, 236, So., Baton Rouge, La.

Jordan Mickey, LSU - F, 6-8, 235, So., Dallas, Texas

Stefan Moody, Ole Miss - G, 5-10, 179, Jr., Kissimmee, Fla.

Josh Richardson, Tennessee - G, 6-6, 200, Sr., Edmond, Okla.

Danuel House, Texas A&M - G, 6-7, 207, Jr., Fresno, Texas

Damian Jones, Vanderbilt -C, 6-10, 240, So., Baton Rouge, La.

Second Team All-SEC

Levi Randolph, Alabama - G, 6-5, 210, Sr., Madison, Ala.

Michael Qualls, Arkansas - G, 6-6, 210, Jr., Shreveport, La.

KT Harrell, Auburn - G, 6-4, 212, Sr., Montgomery, Ala.

Dorian Finney-Smith, Florida - F, 6-8, 218, Jr., Portsmouth, Va.

Marcus Thornton, Georgia - F, 6-8, 235, Sr., Atlanta, Ga.

Devin Booker, Kentucky - G, 6-6, 206, Fr., Grand Rapids, Mich.

Aaron Harrison, Kentucky - G, 6-6, 212, So., Richmond, Texas

Craig Sword, Mississippi State - G, 6-3, 194, Jr., Montgomery, Ala.

Jalen Jones, Texas A&M - G/F, 6-7, 223, Jr., Dallas, Texas

SEC All-Freshman Team

Anton Beard, Arkansas - G, 6-0, 190, Fr., North Little Rock, Ark.

Devin Robinson, Florida - F, 6-8, 178, Fr., Chesterfield, Va.

Devin Booker, Kentucky - G, 6-6, 206, Fr., Grand Rapids, Mich.

Trey Lyles, Kentucky - F, 6-10, 235, Fr., Indianapolis, Ind.

Karl-Anthony Towns, Kentucky - F, 6-11, 250, Fr., Piscataway, N.J.

Tyler Ulis, Kentucky - G, 5-9, 155, Fr., Lima, Ohio

Wade Baldwin IV, Vanderbilt - G, 6-3, 195, Fr., Belle Mead, N.J.

Riley LaChance, Vanderbilt - G, 6-2, 194, Fr., Brookfield, Wisc.

SEC All-Defensive Team

Marcus Thornton, Georgia - F, 6-8, 235, Sr., Atlanta, Ga.

Willie Cauley-Stein, Kentucky - F, 7-0, 240, Jr., Olathe, Kan.

Jordan Mickey, LSU - F, 6-8, 235, So., Dallas, Texas

Josh Richardson, Tennessee - G, 6-6, 200, Sr., Edmond, Okla.

Damian Jones, Vanderbilt -C, 6-10, 240, So., Baton Rouge, La.

SEC Coach of the Year: John Calipari, Kentucky

SEC Player of the Year: Bobby Portis, Arkansas

SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Levi Randolph, Alabama

SEC Freshman of the Year: Karl-Anthony Towns, Kentucky

SEC Sixth-Man of the Year: Devin Booker, Kentucky

SEC Defensive Player of the Year: Willie Cauley-Stein, Kentucky