By SEAN BOCK
Cincinnati senior forward Gary Clark was named AAC Player of the Year along with Defensive Player of the Year and received the Sportsmanship Award on Wednesday. Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson was voted Coach of the Year and East Carolina’s Shawn Williams was named Rookie of the Year.
Clark, who earlier in the season became the fifth Bearcat in program history to eclipse the 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds mark, averaged 12.7 points and 8.2 rebounds while he ranks sixth in blocks (1.3 per game) and seventh in steals (1.5) in the American.
Clark’s senior year culminated with No. 8 Cincinnati winning The American regular-season title as the Bearcats claimed their first outright conference title since 2002.
Sampson guided Houston to a No. 21 in the national ranking – the first time the Cougars were ranked in both polls at the same time since the Phi Slama Jama team in 1984. Houston’s 24 wins marked the third straight season with 20-plus wins and the second place finish is the program’s best in the five years of the conference.
After sitting out the 2016-17 season, Williams led all freshman in the conference with 12.2 points per game including four 20-point performances and a 30-point outburst against Memphis on Feb. 3.
In conference play, Williams averaged 14.6 points per game while shooting 38.7 percent from three-point range. Williams is the first ECU player to be voted the conference’s player of the year.
2017-18 AAC Men’s Basketball Awards
Player of the Year: Gary Clark (Cincinnati)
Coach of the Year: Kelvin Sampson (Houston)
Rookie of the Year: Shawn Williams (East Carolina)
Most Improved Player: Melvin Frazier (Tulane)
Sixth Man of the Year: Armoni Brooks (Houston)
Sportsmanship Award: Gary Clark (Cincinnati)
Team Academic Excellence Award: Tulane
Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Obi Enechionyia (Temple)
All-AAC First Team
Gary Clark (Cincinnati) Jacob Evans III (Cincinnati), Rob Gray (Houston), Shaquille Morris (Wichita State), Landry Shamet (Wichita State)
All-AAC Second Team
Jalen Adams (UConn), Junior Etou (Tulsa), Melvin Frazier (Tulane) Jeremiah Martin (Memphis), Shake Milton (SMU)
Honorable Mention All-AAC
A.J. Davis (UCF), Quinton Rose (Temple), Kyle Washington (Cincinnati)
AAC All-Rookie Team
Ethan Chargois (SMU), David Collins (USF), Nate Pierre-Louis (Temple), Fabian White (Houston), Shawn Williams (ECU)
Photo: 247Sports.com
