ECU's Jayden Gardner Named First Team All-AAC
The results are in and ECU’s Jayden Gardner has been voted First Team All-AAC by the conference’s eleven head coaches.
Gardner leads the American in scoring at 18.3 points a game and is currently tied for second in rebounding. He also ranks among the league’s leaders in five different catagories and tops the league in double-doubles including four games with at least 20 points and 10 boards. He scored over 20 points nine times this season including 21 against then (5)Houston along with 15 rebounds.
“It’s just an accomplishment for me, my teammates and my coaches. I couldn’t do nothing without them. It’s just a credit to them in this weird situations that everyone has been going through,” said Gardner, “We just stuck together and we just have to stick together through this whole tournament.”
Along with Gardner are co-players of the year Quentin Grimes of Houston and Tyson Etienne of Wichita State, Landers Nolley from Memphis and Kendric Davis of SMU.
This season Gardner became just the fourth player in ECU basketball history to score 1,400 points and pull down 600 rebounds joining Anton Gill, Bill Otte and Darrius Morrow.
A five time recipient of The American’s weekly honor roll, Gardner was named AAC Player-of-the-Week on Feb. 8 after averaging 22 points, 12 rebounds and 2.5 assists against Houston and Memphis.
“Jayden means a lot to this program obviously. He’s been a cornerstone since we got here. It’s exciting for him, it’s exciting for our program,” said ECU head coach Joe Dooley, “Now we have to put some other pieces around him.”
The AMERICAN AWARD WINNERS
All-Conference First Team
Jayden Gardner, Jr., F, East Carolina
Quentin Grimes, Jr., G, Houston*
Landers Nolley II, So., G, Memphis
Kendric Davis, Jr., G, SMU*
Tyson Etienne, So., G, Wichita State*
All-Conference Second Team
Keith Williams, Sr., G, Cincinnati
DeJon Jarreau, Sr., G, Houston
Justin Gorham, Sr., F, Houston
Marcus Sasser, So., G, Houston
Brandon Rachal, Sr., F, Tulsa
All-Conference Third Team
Brandon Mahan, Sr., G, UCF
Darius Perry, Sr., G, UCF
Feron Hunt, Sr., G, SMU
Khalif Battle, So., G, Temple
Jaylen Forbes, So., G, Tulane
Alterique Gilbert, R-Sr., G, Wichita State
All-Freshman Team
Isaiah Adams, G, UCF
Tari Eason, F, Cincinnati
Moussa Cisse, C, Memphis
Caleb Murphy, G, USF
Damian Dunn, G, Temple
Ricky Council IV, G, Wichita State
Coach of the Year
Issac Brown, Wichita State*
Player of the Year
Quentin Grimes, Jr., G, Houston
Tyson Etienne, So., G, Wichita State
Defensive Player of the Year
DeJon Jarreau, Sr., G, Houston
Freshman of the Year
Moussa Cisse, C, Memphis
Most Improved Player
Justin Gorham, Sr., F, Houston
Sixth Man of the Year
Boogie Ellis, So., G, Memphis
Darien Jackson, Sr., G, Tulsa
Sportsmanship Award
J.P. Moorman II, Sr., F, Temple
* denotes unanimous selections
