Senior Trio Racks Up Awards At Annual Banquet
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Arkansas men’s basketball team held its annual awards dinner on Monday evening in Bud Walton Arena as the players, coaching staff and fans gathered to recognize the 2016-17 squad that advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
For the second consecutive year, senior Moses Kingsley took home the most awards, gathering five honors, including the Razorback Performance Award, Razorback Service Award, Chairman of the Boards Award and Defensive Player of the Year. He shared the Razorback Performance Award with fellow seniors Dusty Hannahs and Manuale Watkins and used a 3.56 cumulative GPA to capture the Academic Excellence Award for the second straight season.
Entering his senior campaign as the Preseason SEC Player of the Year, Kingsley averaged 12.0 points and 7.7 rebounds per contest, finishing his career as the SEC’s active leader with 265 career blocks, the third most in program history. He became the ninth player in school history to capture All-SEC honors in consecutive seasons and the first to earn multiple selections to the SEC All-Defensive team.
Averaging 14.4 points per game, Hannahs led the Razorbacks in scoring for the second straight year. He finished 10th in the country in free throw percentage at 90.8 percent and took home the Razorback Free Throw Award for the second consecutive season after going 108-of-199 from the charity stripe. Hannahs was the co-winner for both the Razorback Performance Award and Offensive Player of the Year. Finishing his career with 1,047 points as a Razorback, Hannahs became the 41st player in school history to eclipse 1,000 career points and the fifth to do it in just two seasons.
Watkins picked up three honors, earning the Razorback Ironman Award in back-to-back years, to go along with being named co-winner of the Razorback Performance Award and the Most Improved Player Award, an honor he shared with Trey Thompson. Watkins averaged 6.0 points per contest and finished second on the team in rebounding, averaging 4.0 boards per game. He had just 20 turnovers in 802 minutes this season, averaging one turnover per 40.1 minutes of action.
Juniors Jaylen Barford and Daryl Macon each received two awards, as Barford went home with the Razorback Versatility Award and the Razorback Coaches Award, while Macon won the Razorback Assist Award and was the co-winner of the Offensive Player of the Year Award.
In his first year in Fayetteville, Barford finished third in scoring at 12.8 points per game and tied for third in rebounding at 3.8 rebounds per contest. Playing the second-most minutes on the team with 914, he started 30 of 36 games and tallied five 20-point efforts. Barford scored 20 points and added a season-high seven rebounds in Arkansas’ first round NCAA Tournament win over Seton Hall. He recorded 44 steals on the year, including a season-high four takeaways against Seton Hall and at Florida.
Macon scored in double figures in 17 of his 22 starts. The Little Rock native tallied three 20-point games, including a season-high 30 points against Ole Miss, the most by a Razorback this season. He posted 23 points in a win over Texas after going a perfect 14-of-14 from the free throw line, the second most makes in program history without a miss. He also added a 12-of-13 performance from the charity stripe in a road win over Tennessee. Macon led the team with 80 assists and had a team-high 13 games of three-plus assists this season.
Arkansas Men’s Basketball 2016-17 Team Awards
• Razorback Performance Award: Manuale Watkins, Dusty Hannahs and Moses Kingsley
• Academic Excellence Award: Moses Kingsley
• Razorback Assist Award: Daryl Macon
• Razorback Free Throw Award: Dusty Hannahs
• Razorback Service Award: Moses Kingsley
• Razorback Versatility Award: Jaylen Barford
• Razorback Ironman Award: Manuale Watkins
• Razorback HAWG Award: Anton Beard
• Chairman of the Boards Award: Moses Kingsley
• Razorback Coaches Award: Jaylen Barford
• Most Improved Player Award: Manuale Watkins and Trey Thompson
• Offensive Player of the Year: Dusty Hannahs and Daryl Macon
• Defensive Player of the Year: Moses Kingsley
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