ACC basketball awards honor UNC, Duke, NC State, Wake Forest players. Here’s who won
North Carolina’s Armando Bacot and Wake Forest guard Tyree Appleby were named first-team, all-ACC on Monday when the league announced its men’s basketball award winners.
Duke’s Kyle Filipowski was named the ACC Rookie of the Year while making all-ACC second team, a decision that ended 15 consecutive seasons with at least one Blue Devils player on the all-ACC first team. That had been the longest active streak of first-team inclusion in the league.
N.C. State’s high-scoring backcourt duo of Terquavion Smith and Jarkel Joiner joined Filipowski as second-team selections.
The league’s awards are voted on by the league’s coaches and a panel of media selected by the ACC office.
Pittsburgh’s Jeff Capel is the ACC coach of the year, while Miami’s Isaiah Wong won the league player of the year award.
Named the preseason ACC Player of the Year, Bacot led the ACC in rebounding (10.8 per game) while averaging 16.5 points per game for the Tar Heels (19-12, 11-9 ACC).
A transfer from Florida, Appleby became the first player in history to lead the ACC in scoring (18.8 points) and assists (6.3).
Wong averaged 15.9 points per game while leading Miami (24-6, 15-5) to a share of the ACC regular-season title (along with Virginia) and the No. 1 seed for this week’s ACC tournament.
Pitt’s Jamarius Burton (15.6 points per game) and Clemson’s Hunter Tyson (15.7 points per game) rounded out the five-man, first-team unit.
Filipowski won the league’s award as top rookie in a landslide. That makes sense, as the 7-foot freshman center was named ACC Rookie of the Week nine times this season.
Entering this week’s ACC tournament, Filipowski’s averages of 15 points and 9.2 rebounds lead the Blue Devils (23-8, 14-6). He’s also Duke’s team leader in steals (1.2 per game). He leads all Division I freshmen with 14 double-doubles.
Joiner transferred to N.C. State from Mississippi and helped transform the Wolfpack’s program. His 17.26 points per game was a narrow second on the team to Smith’s 17.32. Joiner made 36% of his 3-point attempts, helping put N.C. State (22-9, 12-8) in position for its first NCAA tournament berth since 2018.
Joining Smith, Filipowski and Joiner on the second team were Pitt’s Blake Hinson and Miami’s Jordan Miller.
The third team included Kihei Clark and Reece Beekman from Virginia, P.J. Hall of Clemson, Norchad Omier of Miami and Syracuse’s Jesse Edwards.
A Fayetteville native and former Duke player and assistant coach, Capel went from being in danger of losing his job to leading Pitt to one of its best seasons since joining the ACC.
In his fifth season at the school, Capel led Pittsburgh (21-10) to its first winning season since the 2015-16 season. That’s also the last time the Panthers played in the NCAA tournament, another drought Capel has his team in position to end this season.
Pitt’s 14-6 ACC record gave it more league wins in a single season than any of its previous 10 seasons of ACC membership. The Panthers nearly won the ACC regular-season championship but a 78-76 loss at Miami on Saturday dropped them to the ACC tournament’s No. 5 seed.
With four freshmen in its starting lineup for most of this season, Duke dominated the league’s all-freshman team. Filipowski was joined by guard Tyrese Proctor and center Dereck Lively. Syracuse’s Judah Mintz and J.J. Starling of Notre Dame rounded out the all-freshman team.
Virginia’s Reece Beekman was named the ACC defensive player of the year, Pitt’s Nike Sabande was voted the league’s sixth man of the year while Boston College’s Quinten Post was selected as most improved player.
The all-defensive team included Beekman, Lively, Edwards, Clark and UNC’s Leaky Black.