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American Athletic Conference Announces Men's Basketball Honors
POSTED: March 9, 2022 -- 10:30 a.m. CT
The American Athletic Conference has announced the men's basketball award winners and all-conference teams for the 2021-22 season ahead of the 2022 American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Championship, to be held March 10-13 at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth. The selections were made by the league's 11 head coaches.
SMU senior guard Kendric Davis was named The American's Player of the Year, while Houston's Kelvin Sampson has been honored as the league's Coach of the Year.
Memphis' Jalen Duren was unanimously selected as the league's Freshman of the Year. Wichita State senior guard Dexter Dennis was named the Defensive Player of the Year, while his teammate, freshman guard Ricky Council IV, was selected as the Sixth Man of the Year.
The Most Improved Player of the Year award went to Tulane sophomore forward Kevin Cross, while Tulsa senior guard Darien Jackson was honored with the Sportsmanship Award.
Davis leads The American in scoring at 19.5 points per game, which ranks sixth on The American's single-season chart, and is third in the league with 4.6 assists per contest. He is the first American Athletic Conference player to lead the league in scoring in back-to-back years since Houston's Rob Gray in 2017 and 2018. Davis is the third SMU player to be named as The American's Player of the Year, joining two-time winner Nic Moore (2015, 2016) and Semi Ojeyele (2017).
Sampson, who was previously named as American Coach of the Year in 2018 and 2019, becomes the first three-time winner of the award. Despite the loss of two key players to season-ending injuries, Sampson led Houston to a 26-5 regular-season record, a 15-3 mark in league play and the Cougars' second American Athletic Conference regular-season championship.
Duren is the third consecutive Memphis player to be named as The American Freshman of the Year and is the sixth Tigers player to earn the honor in the league's nine-year history. Duren leads the conference with 7.5 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game while also contributing 11.9 points per game.
Duren helped the Tigers to two wins by nearly averaging a double-double with 12.0 points and 9.0 rebounds. He had a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds against South Florida on Thursday.
Council averaged 11.7 points and 5.4 rebounds per game as the Shockers' top bench player. Dennis routinely guarded the opposing team's best player and had 23 steals and 24 blocks.
Cross averaged 13.8 points per game and 6.8 rebounds in the regular season after averaging 6.9 points and 4.7 rebounds last year. He is one of three players to average in double figures for Tulane, which earned a first-round bye in the American Championship after being projected to finish ninth in the league's preseason poll.
Jackson is an intern at Greenwood Rising, a world-class history center which honors the icons of Black Wall Street and memorializes the victims of the Tulsa Race Massacre. He has also taken part in multiple Unity Walks from the University of Tulsa's campus to the Greenwood District. Jackson has helped with Tulsa PLAYS, helping underprivileged youths get involved with athletics and exercise.
Davis was the only unanimous selection to the All-Conference First Team and the only repeat selection from last season, He and Duren were joined on the first team by Tulane freshman guard Jalen Cook and a pair of Houston graduate students, forward Josh Carlton and forward Fabian White Jr.
The All-Conference Second Team is comprised of East Carolina sophomore guard Tristen Newton, Houston senior guard Kyler Edwards, Memphis senior forward DeAndre Williams, SMU senior forward Marcus Weathers, Temple sophomore guard Damian Dunn and Tulane sophomore guard Jaylen Forbes.
Cross was selected to the All-Conference Third Team, along with UCF junior guard Darin Green Jr., Cincinnati senior guard David DeJulius, Houston sophomore guard Jamal Shead and Wichita State sophomore guard Tyson Etienne.
2021-22 American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Honors
Player of the Year -- Kendric Davis, Sr., G, SMU
Coach of the Year -- Kelvin Sampson, Houston
Defensive Player of the Year -- Dexter Dennis, Jr., G, Wichita State
Freshman of the Year -- Jalen Duren, C, Memphis*
Sixth Man of the Year -- Ricky Council IV, Fr., G, Wichita State
Most Improved Player of the Year -- Kevin Cross, So., F, Tulane
Sportsmanship Award -- Darien Jackson, Sr., G, Tulsa
All-Conference First Team
Josh Carlton, Gr., F, Houston
Fabian White Jr, Gr., F, Houston
Jalen Duren, Fr., C, Memphis
Kendric Davis, Sr., G, SMU*
Jalen Cook, Fr., G, Tulane
All-Conference Second Team
Tristen Newton, So., G, East Carolina
Kyler Edwards, Sr., G, Houston
DeAndre Williams, Sr., F, Memphis
Marcus Weathers, Sr., F, SMU
Damian Dunn, So., G, Temple
Jaylen Forbes, So., G, Tulane
All-Conference Third Team
Darin Green Jr, Jr., G, UCF
David DeJulius, Sr., G, Cincinnati
Jamal Shead, So., G, Houston
Kevin Cross, So., F, Tulane
Tyson Etienne, So., G, Wichita State
All-Freshman Team
Darius Johnson, G, UCF
Jalen Duren, C, Memphis*
Josh Minott, F, Memphis
Zach Hicks, G, Temple
Jahlil White, G, Temple
* denotes unanimous selection
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