In just his second season as the Florida Gators head basketball coach Mike White was named the SEC Coach of the Year, as voted on by the league’s coaches.
The Gators have won 24 games, tied for third most in program history, this season, and three more than they did in White’s first season in Gainesville. This is the third time in his six seasons as a head coach that White has been named his conference’s Coach of the Year. White was named the WAC Coach of the Year (2013) and Conference USA Coach of the Year (2015) while he coached at Louisiana Tech.
The Gators also had three players honored with several All-SEC distinctions. Sophomore guard KeVaughn Allen was named a First Team All-SEC, Kasey Hill was named Second Team All-SEC as well as the All-Defensive team. Graduate transfer Canyon Barry was named the league’s Sixth Man of the Year.
Allen led the Gators in scoring with 13.9 per game and is the first Florida sophomore named to the first team since Kenny Boynton (2012).
Hill is just the third Gator to be named to the All-Defensive team. He ranked fourth in the SEC in steals (1.7) to go along with 9.6 points-per-game and 4.6 assists.
Barry is the third Gator to ever receive the SEC’s Sixth Man of the Year Award. Chris Richard (2007) and Dorian Finney-Smith (2014) are the others. Barry scored 12.5 points-per-game and led the Gators at the free throw line with an underhanded .878 mark.
First Team All-SEC
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 All-SEC
Moses Kingsley, Arkansas
Kasey Hill Florida
Bam Adebayo, Kentucky
Antonio Blakeney, LSU
Quinndary Weatherspoon, Miss 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
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