Auburn's Jabari Smith and Walker Kessler receive national awards
Even though their season ended earlier than they hoped, Auburn big men Jabari Smith and Walker Kessler have received national awards after they were earlier named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches All-America teams.
Smith and Kessler were key cogs as Auburn won the SEC regular-season championship title, the program’s first-ever No. 1 national ranking in both polls and a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Smith was voted as the NABC Freshman of the Year, while Kessler was named the NABC Defensive Player of the Year, which are both firsts in program history. The awards were voted on by NABC-member coaches across NCAA Division I. Earlier this month, Smith was named to the second team and Kessler on the third team of NABC All-America teams.
Smith, the SEC Freshman of the Year, averaged 16.9 points and 7.4 rebounds. The 6-foot-10 forward had 14 games of 20-or-more points and recorded 7 double-doubles. He broke the school’s single-season freshman record for points (576) and 3-point field goals made (79).
Kessler, the SEC Defensive Player of the Year, finished the season averaging 11.4 points and 8.1 rebounds per game, and his 155 blocks are the most in Division I – also a single-season record in the school record books. He turned in two triple-doubles this season, the most nationally, including 15 games with 5-or-more blocked shots.