IRVING, Texas – The American Athletic Conference has announced the men’s basketball award winners and all-conference teams for the 2020-21 season. The selections were made by the league’s 11 head coaches.
 
Houston junior Quentin Grimes and Wichita State sophomore Tyson Etienne both earned Player of the Year honors. Shocker head coach Isaac Brown was a unanimous selection as Coach of the Year.
 
Houston had two more individual award winners as seniors DeJon Jarreau and Justin Gorham were named Defensive Player of the Year and the Most Improved Player, respectively. Memphis’ Moussa Cisse was named the Freshman of the Year, while Tiger sophomore Boogie Ellis and Tulsa senior Darien Jackson both earned Sixth Man of the Year accolades. Temple senior J.P. Moorman II earned the league’s Sportsmanship Award.

Brown, named interim head coach at Wichita State just before the season began on Nov. 17, led the Shockers to The American’s regular-season title with a 15-4 overall record and 11-2 tally in conference play. For his efforts, the interim title has also been removed.
 
Grimes is second in scoring in The American with 17.9 points per game and eighth in the league with 6.2 rebounds per game. Etienne is fourth in scoring with 17.1 points per contest and fourth in 3-point field goal percentage at 40.0 percent.
 
Jarreau was the 2019 Sixth Man of the Year, while Gorham is leading The American with 9.4 rebounds per game. Cisse leads the conference with 1.9 blocks per game and is sixth in rebounding at 6.9 per contest.
 
Ellis is averaging 9.3 points per game off the bench for Memphis, while Jackson leads the league with a 65.1 percent field goal percentage. Moorman II is a two-time captain for the Owls and has been one of the most engaged student-athletes on Temple’s campus, including being a part of the newly-formed student-athlete group, Owls4Justice.
 
Grimes, Etienne and SMU junior Kendric Davis were unanimous all-conference first-team selections and were joined on the first team by East Carolina junior Jayden Gardner and Memphis sophomore Landers Nolley II.
 
A trio of Cougars were named to the second team, including Jarreau, Gorham and sophomore Marcus Sasser. They were joined on the second team by a pair of seniors, Cincinnati’s Keith Williams and Tulsa’s Brandon Rachal.
 
UCF seniors Brandon Mahan and Darius Perry were named to the third team and were joined by SMU senior Feron Hunt, Temple sophomore Khalif Battle, Tulane sophomore Jaylen Forbes and Wichita State redshirt-senior Alterique Gilbert.

Cisse was joined on the all-freshman team by UCF’s Isaiah Adams, Cincinnati’s Tari Eason, USF’s Caleb Murphy, Temple’s Damian Dunn and Wichita State’s Ricky Council IV.
 
Gardner was a second-team all-conference selection in 2020, while Davis, Jolly and Rachal were previously third-team honorees.
 
2020-21 American Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Honors
 
Player of the Year
Quentin Grimes, Jr., G, Houston
Tyson Etienne, So., G, Wichita State
 
Coach of the Year
Isaac Brown, Wichita State*
 
Defensive Player of the Year
DeJon Jarreau, Sr., G, Houston
 
Freshman of the Year
Moussa Cisse, C, Memphis
 
Most Improved Player
Justin Gorham, Sr., F, Houston
 
Sixth Man of the Year
Boogie Ellis, So., G, Memphis
Darien Jackson, Sr., G, Tulsa
 
Sportsmanship Award
J.P. Moorman II, Sr., F, Temple
 
All-Conference First Team
Jayden Gardner, Jr., F, East Carolina
Quentin Grimes, Jr., G, Houston*
Landers Nolley II, So., G, Memphis
Kendric Davis, Jr., G, SMU*
Tyson Etienne, So., G, Wichita State*
 
All-Conference Second Team
Keith Williams, Sr., G, Cincinnati
DeJon Jarreau, Sr., G, Houston
Justin Gorham, Sr., F, Houston
Marcus Sasser, So., G, Houston
Brandon Rachal, Sr., F, Tulsa
 
All-Conference Third Team
Brandon Mahan, Sr., G, UCF
Darius Perry, Sr., G, UCF
Feron Hunt, Jr., F, SMU
Khalif Battle, So., G, Temple
Jaylen Forbes, So., G, Tulane
Alterique Gilbert, R-Sr., G, Wichita State
 
All-Freshman Team
Isaiah Adams, G, UCF
Tari Eason, F, Cincinnati
Moussa Cisse, C, Memphis
Caleb Murphy, G, USF
Damian Dunn, G, Temple
Ricky Council IV, G, Wichita State
 
* denotes unanimous selections

COURTESY THE AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE