SMU’s Davis is AAC player of year; Sampson top coach

IRVING, Texas (AP) — SMU senior guard Kendric Davis is the American Athletic Conference player of the year, as selected by the league’s 11 head coaches.

Davis, who leads the conference with 19.5 points a game and is third with 4.6 assists, was the only unanimous pick on the All-AAC first team released Wednesday. He also was the league’s top scorer last season.

The other first-team picks are graduate senior forwards Josh Carlton and Fabian White Jr. of regular-season champion and 18th-ranked Houston, Tulane freshman guard Jalen Cook and Memphis 6-foot-11 freshman center Jalen Duren.

Duren is the league’s top rebounder at 7.5 per game and was the unanimous pick for freshman of the year. Cook is the second-leading scorer at 17.9 points per game.

Houston’s Kelvin Sampson is the American’s coach of the year for the third time, with the Cougars going into the conference tournament with a 26-5 record. Sampson was also coach of the year in 2018 and 2019, and the Cougars made it to the NCAA Final Four last season.

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