Duke sophomore guard Tre Jones was voted the 2020 ACC Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, highlighting the All-ACC Men’s Basketball Team and award winners for the 2019-20 season, as released Monday morning by the conference office.
The 2019-20 All-ACC Team was determined by a 75-person selection panel consisting of the league’s 15 head coaches and 60 members of the media.
A native of Apple Valley, Minnesota, Jones received 34 first-place votes for ACC Player of the Year, twice as many as any other player. He is averaging 16.2 points and 6.4 assists per game this season for the Blue Devils. A finalist for the Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Award and the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year, Jones also has a +2.4 assist/turnover ratio and averages 1.8 steals per game. He is averaging 17.8 points per game over Duke’s last 16 games, including his season-high 28 points in the Feb. 8 win in overtime at North Carolina.
Duke’s Vernon Carey Jr. was the runaway pick for ACC Rookie of the Year, claiming 70 of the 75 votes for the award. The native of Southwest Ranches, Florida, is averaging 17.8 points and 8.8 rebounds per game for Duke. He also is shooting 57.7% from the field while leading the Blue Devils in scoring and rebounding. He owns 15 double-doubles this season – second-most nationally among all freshmen – and is a finalist for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award for the nation’s top center.
Jones and Carey Jr. were joined on the All-ACC First Team by Louisville’s Jordan Nwora (18.0 ppg, 7.7 rpg), Notre Dame’s John Mooney (NCAA-high 25 double-doubles; 16.5 ppg, 12.8 rpg) and Syracuse’s Elijah Hughes (league-high 18.8 ppg).
The All-ACC Second Team is comprised of Virginia’s Mamadi Diakite, Florida State’s Trent Forrest and Devin Vassell, North Carolina’s Garrison Brooks and NC State’s Markell Johnson. Third-Team All-ACC honors went to Virginia’s Kihei Clark, Georgia Tech’s Jose Alvarado, Clemson’s Aamir Simms, North Carolina’s Cole Anthony and Wake Forest’s Olivier Sarr.
Florida State’s Leonard Hamilton was voted ACC Coach of the Year after guiding FSU to its first ACC regular-season championship and the Seminoles’ first in any league since the 1989 Metro Conference regular-season title. He earned 62 of the 75 votes for the award. FSU is 26-5 this season and wrapped up the regular season with a 15-5 mark in conference play. The Seminoles are ranked No. 7 nationally in the latest Associated Press poll and the top seed in the upcoming New York Life ACC Tournament. This marks the third time Hamilton has been voted the ACC’s Coach of the Year (2009, 2012).
The Seminoles’ Patrick Williams was named ACC Sixth Man of the Year. The freshman averaged 9.2 points and 4.0 rebounds per game in 29 games, all off the bench. He also owns a team-high 30 blocked shots.
Williams was joined on the ACC All-Freshman Team by Carey Jr., Anthony, Virginia Tech’s Landers Nolley II and Duke’s Cassius Stanley.
North Carolina’s Garrison Brooks was selected as the ACC’s Most Improved Player. Averaging 16.4 points per game, the junior has more than doubled his scoring average from a season ago (7.9 ppg in 2018-19). Brooks also is averaging 8.8 rebounds per game, which is third in the ACC, and boasts a dozen double-doubles this season.
Jones was the top vote-getter for the All-Defensive Team and was joined on the squad by Virginia’s Mamadi Diakite, Florida State’s Trent Forrest, Georgia Tech’s James Banks III and Boston College’s Steffon Mitchell.
2020 All-ACC Team
First Team
Vernon Carey Jr., Duke, 367
Jordan Nwora, Louisville, 359
John Mooney, Notre Dame, 351
Tre Jones, Duke, 348
Elijah Hughes, Syracuse, 305
Second Team
Mamadi Diakite, Virginia, 234
Devin Vassell, Florida State, 212
Garrison Brooks, North Carolina, 209
Trent Forrest, Florida State, 200
Markell Johnson, NC State, 101
Third Team
Kihei Clark, Virginia, 98
Jose Alvarado, Georgia Tech, 87
Aamir Simms, Clemson, 79
Cole Anthony, North Carolina, 69
Olivier Sarr, Wake Forest, 63
Honorable Mention
Landers Nolley II, Virginia Tech, 58
Michael Devoe, Georgia Tech, 48
Brandon Childress, Wake Forest 44
Chris Lykes, Miami, 32
M.J. Walker, Florida State, 22
Braxton Key, Virginia, 16
Dwayne Sutton, Louisville 15
Steffon Mitchell, Boston College, 11
ACC Player of the Year
Tre Jones, Duke, 34
Jordan Nwora, Louisville, 17
John Mooney, Notre Dame, 11
Elijah Hughes, Syracuse, 7
Trent Forrest, Florida State, 4
Mamadi Diakite, Virginia 2
Freshman of the Year
Vernon Carey Jr., Duke, 70
Landers Nolley II, Virginia Tech, 2
Cole Anthony, North Carolina, 2
Patrick Williams, Florida State, 1
All-Defensive Team
Tre Jones, Duke, 64
Mamadi Diakite, Virginia, 55
Trent Forrest, Florida State, 55
James Banks III, Georgia Tech, 34
Steffon Mitchell, Boston College, 30
All-Freshman Team
Vernon Carey Jr., Duke, 75
Cole Anthony, North Carolina, 55
Landers Nolley II, Virginia Tech, 54
Cassius Stanley, Duke, 36
Patrick Williams, Florida State, 29
Coach of the Year
Leonard Hamilton, Florida State, 62
Tony Bennett, Virginia, 12
Chris Mack, Louisville, 1
Defensive Player of the Year
Tre Jones, Duke, 45
Trent Forrest, Florida State, 18
Steffon Mitchell, Boston College, 8
Kihei Clark, Virginia, 3
Manny Bates, NC State, 1
Most Improved Player
Garrison Brooks, North Carolina, 17
Olivier Sarr, Wake Forest, 16
Devin Vassell, Florida State, 16
Buddy Boeheim, Syracuse, 10
Aamir Simms, Clemson, 6
Moses Wright, Georgia Tech, 6
Prentiss Hubb, Notre Dame, 2
DJ Funderburk, NC State, 1
Jay Huff, Virginia, 1
6th Man of the Year
Patrick Williams, Florida State, 35
Malik Williams, Louisville, 28
Dane Goodwin, Notre Dame, 9
Isaiah Wong, Miami, 3