ATLANTA – Tennessee’s Grant Williams earned more recognition for his impressive season Tuesday, being named a 2019 Citizen Naismith Trophy Men’s Player of the Year Finalist by the Atlanta Tipoff Club.
Williams, who was on the preseason watch list, the midseason team and was a semifinalist, was one of four players across the country selected as a potential recipient of the honor, joining Duke’s Zion Williamson, Gonzaga’s Rui Hachimura and Murray State’s Ja Morant.
The junior forward has been one of the nation’s most all-around players this year, averaging 19.0 points, 7.6 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.4 blocks and 1.1 steals per game. He is also shooting 57 percent from the field and an impressive 83 percent from the charity stripe.
Williams ranks in the top 10 of the SEC in scoring (1st), field-goal percentage (2nd), free-throw percentage (4th), rebounding (6th) and assist/turnover ratio (9th).
Williams’ list of postseason honors is already impressive. The Charlotte, North Carolina, native has been named SEC Player of the Year and a first-team All-SEC performer—both for the second straight season. He was also named to the SEC Community Service Team, SEC All-Tournament Team, United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) District IV Player of the Year and is a first-team All-American by Sporting News and the USBWA.
The junior forward is also up for consideration for several other player of the year honors, being tabbed to the Men’s National Ballot for the John R. Wooden Award, a 2018-19 Oscar Robertson Trophy finalist and a Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year finalist.
The 2019 Citizen Naismith Trophy will be awarded on at the Naismith Awards Brunch on April 7, 2019, during the Final Four in Minneapolis.
The Naismith Trophy is awarded annually to the women’s and men’s college basketball players of the year. First awarded in 1969 to UCLA’s Lew Alcindor, later known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the Naismith Trophy has become one of the most prestigious national honors awarded each year to the top players in the nation.
Named in honor of Dr. James Naismith, the founder of the sport, Tennessee has never had a player win the award.
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