Tayshaun Prince was named the Southeastern Conference Player of the Year in voting conducted by the league’s coaches, the SEC announced Monday. The 6-9 junior forward, who averages 16.2 points and a team-leading 6.3 rebounds per game, also earned first-team All-SEC honors after receiving second-team honors last season.
UK sophomore Keith Bogans was a second-team All-SEC selection and fellow starters Gerald Fitch and Jason Parker were named to the SEC All-Freshman Team.
Prince was joined on the first team by Alabama’s Rod Grizzard, Florida’s Udonis Haslem and Brett Nelson and Ole Miss’ Rahim Lockhart. He’s the first Wildcat to win the SEC’s top award since Ron Mercer captured the honor in 1997. Prince is the fourth UK player to earn the nod from the Coaches since the award was established in 1987.
In SEC play, the Compton, Calif. native finished second in the league in scoring by one point to Nelson, averaging 17.8 ppg, while guiding the Wildcats to their second consecutive SEC Championship. He also led the league in free-throw shooting and finished among the league leaders in field goal percentage, rebounding, assist-to-turnover ratio and blocked shots.
Ole Miss’ Rod Barnes was named the SEC Coach of the Year and Rebels’ freshman Justin Reed was a unanimous selection for the league’s Freshman of the Year honor.
First Team
Tayshaun Prince, Kentucky (SEC Player of the Year)
Rod Grizzard, Alabama
Brett Nelson, Florida
Udonis Haslem, Florida
Rahim Lockhart, Ole Miss
Second Team
Erwin Dudley, Alabama
Joe Johnson, Arkansas
D.A. Layne, Georgia
Keith Bogans, Kentucky
Vincent Yarbrough, Tennessee
Third Team
Jannero Pargo, Arkansas
Marquis Daniels, Auburn
Adam Harrington, Auburn
Ronald Dupree, LSU
Ron Slay, Tennessee
All-Freshman Team
Gerald Wallace, Alabama
Gerald Fitch, Kentucky
Jason Parker, Kentucky
Justin Reed, Ole Miss (Freshman of the Year)
Matt Freije, Vanderbilt
SEC Coach of the Year
Rod Barnes
Past Kentucky SEC Player of the Year Recipients(Since 1987)
Jamal Mashburn (1993)
Tony Delk (1996)
Ron Mercer (1997)
