Gators Capture AP SEC Honors with Pair of First-Team Selections

Following the Gators’ piling up SEC Awards, Florida captured even more recognition on Tuesday. The Associated Press released its SEC Awards, with a trio of Gators selected to All-SEC teams.

Thomas Haugh and Rueben Chinyelu earned first-team honors, while Alex Condon secured second-team honors. This marks the first time since 2014 that both coaches and media placed three Gators on an All-SEC team.

The AP also voted Todd Golden as the SEC Coach of the Year. Golden swept SEC Coach of the Year honors after Florida dominated league play, winning the SEC regular season title by three games. The Gators finished 16-2 in conference play, marking Golden’s best conference winning percentage as Florida’s coach. In addition, it was also the best conference winning percentage by any SEC team since Alabama matched the mark (.889%) during the 2022-23 season.

After dominating the awards, the Gators will look to back up their success with a strong performance in Nashville. Florida clinched the No. 1 seed and a double-bye in the SEC Tournament. The Gators open up tournament play in the quarterfinal round against either No. 8 Missouri, No. 9 Kentucky, or No. 16 LSU.

Here’s the full list of AP awards:

Individual Honors

Player of the year: Darius Acuff Jr., Arkansas.

Coach of the year: Todd Golden, Florida.

Freshman of the year:  Darius Acuff Jr.

Newcomer of the year: Ja’Kobi Gillespie, Tennessee.

First team

Darius Acuff Jr., Arkansas

Labaron Philon, Alabama

Tyler Tanner, Vanderbilt

Thomas Haugh, Florida

Rueben Chinyelu, Florida

Second team

Josh Hubbard, Mississippi State

Ja’Kobi Gillespie, Tennessee

Dailyn Swain, Texas

Nate Ament, Tennessee

Alex Condon, Florida

Category: College Basketball, Feature Sports News, Gators Men's Basketball, Not Latest