Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl and senior All-American big man Johni Broome claimed the Southeastern Conference’s top men’s basketball postseason awards in a vote by the league’s head coaches released on Monday.
In his 11th season on the Plains, Pearl earned SEC Coach of the Year honors for the second time during his time at Auburn. He led the Tigers to a No. 1 national ranking twice and to its fifth conference title in the last eight seasons. He is the all-time winningest coach in program history with 227 career wins. The Tigers have won 16 Quad I games this season under Pearl and were one win away from a program record 28 wins in the regular season.
Additionally, Broome became the third-ever player in program history to be honored as SEC Player of the Year – Charles Barkley in 1984 and Chris Porter in 1999 being the others. He earned a spot on the All-SEC First Team for the second year in a row and currently ranks among the top 10 players all-time in career points (1,582, 9th) and top 5 in career blocks (227, 3rd) at Auburn. In contention for the National Player of the Year Award, Broome averaged a team-high 18.6 ppg, 10.6 rpg, 3.3 apg and 2.4 bpg.
Joining Pearl and Broome with postseason honors were senior Chad Baker-Mazara on the All-SEC Third Team, senior Denver Jones on the SEC All-Defensive Team and freshman guard Tahaad Pettiford on the SEC All-Freshman Team.
The Tigers will begin postseason play in Nashville at the SEC Tournament on Friday at noon. The opponent is to be determined.
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