GREENSBORO, NC – Georgia Tech senior striker Moses Wright was named Player of the Year at the Atlantic Coast Conference, highlighting the All-ACC men’s basketball team and the winners of the 2020-21 season awards, as released Monday morning by the conference office.
The 2020-21 All-ACC team was determined by a panel of 75 members, composed of the top 15 coaches in the league and 60 members of the media.
Florida State Guard Scottie Barnes received a double nod as ACC Freshman and Sixth Man of the Year, while Mike Young of Virginia Tech was named ACC Coach of the Year.
Georgia Tech senior guard Jose Alvarado received the ACC Defense Player of the Year honors, while Duke’s second year, Matthew Hurt, was named ACC’s Most Improved.
A native of Raleigh, North Carolina, who came to Georgia Tech after playing just one year of school basketball, Wright 6-9 enters this week’s New York Life ACC Tournament third in the conference on points (18.0) and rebounds (8.1) per game. Wright led the Yellow Jackets to an overall record of 15-8 and a fourth place finish in the ACC regular season finals 11-6. Wright is shooting 54.4% off the ground while playing 35.7 minutes per game.
Wright is the second Georgia Tech player to receive ACC Player of the Year honors and the first since Dennis Scott in 1990. Wright received 33 votes for this year’s panel, well ahead of runner-up Justin Champagnie de Pitt and Carlik Jones Louisville (13 votes each). Wright, who is sixth in the league in blocked shots, with 38, also won a spot in this year’s All-ACC Defensive Team.
Barnes, from the state of Florida, helped the Seminoles to finish second in the ACC, averaging 10.4 points and 4.3 rebounds, and taking fifth place among conference players in assists with 4.3 per game. Barnes, who averages 24.7 minutes played per contest, also ranks fourth among ACC players in terms of assist / turnover and is tied for sixth in steals per game.
Barnes received 53 votes for the first year of the ACC. North Carolina’s Day’Ron Sharpe came in second with 10. The vote for the Sixth Man of the Year was a little closer, with Barnes getting 39 votes, followed by Sharpe with 24.
Young, from Virginia Tech, received 26 votes for ACC Coach of the Year, defeating Leonard Hamilton of Florida State (24 votes) and Josh Pastner of Georgia Tech (16 votes). In his second year with the Hokies, Young guided a team chosen to finish 11th in the preseason and reach third place in the ACC tournament. It is only the second time that the Hokies (15-5, 9-4 ACC) have been the No. 3 seed in the ACC Tournament (2007) and the first time that they have received a double bye since the tournament expanded to 15 teams in 2014. Third place tied for the biggest prize Virginia Tech has ever won in the ACC tournament.
Young’s selection marks the third time that the honored ACC Coach of the Year came from Virginia Tech and the first time since 2008 (Seth Greenberg).
Alvarado leads ACC in 66 steals in 23 games, helping Georgia Tech divide the team’s lead in that category. Duke’s Hurt leads the conference in scoring with 18.7 points, while pulling 6.2 rebounds per game, after averaging 9.7 points and 3.8 rebounds last season.
Wright is joined on the All-ACC First Team by Jones from Louisville (17.0 ppg), Champagnie de Pitt (18.4 ppg, 11.1 rpg), Duke’s Hurt and Sam Hauser from Virginia (15.8 ppg).
The All-ACC Second Team consists of Keve Aluma of Virginia Tech, Alvarado of Georgia Tech, Jay Huff of Virginia, MJ Walker of Florida and Aamir Simms of Clemson.
A tie in the vote resulted in a third six-man All-ACC team – Florida state RaiQuan Gray, Miami’s Isaiah Wong, Syracuse’s Quincy Guerrier, Notre Dame’s Prentiss Hubb, North Carolina’s Armando Bacot and FSU’s Barnes.
Barnes was joined on the ACC All-Freshman team by DJ Steward of Duke, Sharpe of North Carolina, Jae’Lyn Withers of Louisville and Caleb Love of UNC.
Alvarado was the most voted for the All-Defensive Team and joined the NC State team Manny Bates, Virginia Huff, Duke’s Jordan Goldwire and Georgia Tech Wright.
2020-21 ALL-ACC TEAM
FIRST TEAM
Name, School, Points
Moses Wright, Georgia Tech, 344
Justin Champagnie, Pitt, 343
Carlik Jones, Louisville, 327
Matthew Hurt, Duke, 310
Sam Hauser, Virginia, 281
SECOND TEAM
Name, School, Points
Keve Aluma, Virginia Tech, 277
Jose Alvarado, Georgia Tech, 244
Jay Huff, Virginia, 214
MJ Walker, State of Florida, 200
Aamir Simms, Clemson, 176
THIRD TEAM
Name, School, Points
RaiQuan Gray, State of Florida, 167
Isaiah Wong, Miami, 102
Quincy Guerrier, Syracuse, 55
Prentiss Hubb, Notre Dame, 42
Armando Bacot, North Carolina, 41
Scottie Barnes, State of Florida, 41
HONORABLE MENTION
Name, School, Points
Michael Devoe, Georgia Tech, 35
Kihei Clark, Virginia, 31
Alan Griffin, Syracuse, 29
David Johnson, Louisville, 22
Nate Laszewski, Notre Dame, 18
Jericole Hellems, NC State, 13
Tyrece Radford, Virginia Tech, 10
Note: All points on the ACC team are determined on a 5-3-1 system (five points for the first team, three points for the second team, one point for the third team).
ACC YEAR PLAYER
Name, school, votes
Moses Wright, Georgia Tech, 33
Carlik Jones, Louisville, 13
Justin Champagnie, Pitt, 13
Sam Hauser, Virginia, 5
Jose Alvarado, Georgia Tech, 4
Matthew Hurt, Duke, 3
Keve Aluma, Virginia Tech, 3
Jay Huff, Virginia, 1
FRESH ACC OF THE YEAR
Name, school, votes
Scottie Barnes, State of Florida, 53
Day’Ron Sharpe, North Carolina, 10
DJ Steward, Duke, 6
Jae’Lyn Withers, Louisville, 5
Kadary Richmond, Syracuse, 1
ALL DEFENSIVE TEAM
Name, school, votes
Jose Alvarado, Georgia Tech, 69
Manny Bates, NC State, 62
Jay Huff, Virginia, 53
Jordan Goldwire, Duke, 43
Moses Wright, Georgia Tech, 34
ALL FRESH TEAM
Name, school, votes
Scottie Barnes, State of Florida, 74
DJ Steward, Duke, 67
Day’Ron Sharpe, North Carolina, 63
Jae’Lyn Withers, Louisville, 58
Caleb Love, North Carolina, 32
COACH OF THE YEAR
Name, school, votes
Mike Young, Virginia Tech, 26
Leonard Hamilton, State of Florida, 24
Josh Pastner, Georgia Tech, 16
Tony Bennett, Virginia, 6
Brad Brownell, Clemson, 2
Chris Mack, Louisville, 1
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Name, school, votes
Jose Alvarado, Georgia Tech, 35
Jay Huff, Virginia, 17
Manny Bates NC State, 13
Jordan Goldwire, Duke, 5
Aamir Simms, Clemson, 4
Keve Aluma, Virginia Tech, 1
MOST COMPLETE PLAYER
Name, school, votes
Matthew Hurt, Duke, 17
Isaiah Wong, Miami, 13
Moses Wright, Georgia Tech, 11
Justin Champagnie, Pitt, 11
RaiQuan Gray, State of Florida, 10
Nate Laszewski, Notre Dame, 5
Quincy Guerrier, Syracuse, 3
Armando Bacot, North Carolina, 2
Jay Huff, Virginia, 2
David Johnson, Louisville, 1
SIXTH MAN OF THE YEAR
Name, school, votes
Scottie Barnes, State of Florida, 39
Day’Ron Sharpe, North Carolina, 24
Nick Honor, Clemson, 6
Jordan Goldwire, Duke, 5
Nikola Djogo, Notre Dame, 1