PROVIDENCE, RI – The American Athletic Conference announced four individual awards for men’s basketball on Wednesday. UCF sophomore Tacko Fall was voted American Defensive Player of the Year, and Cameron Reynolds of Tulane was tabbed the conference’s Most Improved Player. Cincinnati senior Troy Caupain earned the conference’s Sportsmanship Award, while his teammate Jarron Cumberland was selected the Sixth Man of the Year along with SMU’s Ben Emelogu.
In his sophomore season, the 7-foot-6 Fall started all 30 games for UCF, anchoring a defense that leads the nation in field-goal percentage defense (36.1 percent) and is fifth in scoring defense (60.5 points per game). Fall turned in a program-record 77 blocks while grabbing 9.6 rebounds per game.
Entering his redshirt junior season, Tulane’s Reynolds had not scored more than 20 points in his collegiate career. This season, Reynolds has done so on 12 occasions, most recently in a 31-point performance on March 5. At 17.0 ppg, Reynolds is sixth in The American and ranks third in the conference with 75 three-pointers made.
A freshman, Cumberland came off the bench in all 30 games for No. 15 Cincinnati, averaging 7.8 points and shooting over 48 percent from the field. Cumberland earned American Rookie of the Week accolades three times, most recently on March 6. In 11 games this season, Cumberland scored 10 or more points, including his last three; on Jan. 29, Cumberland recorded a career-best 26 points.
Emelogu emerged as the first player off the bench for No. 12 SMU, averaging over 22 minutes per game in conference action as the Mustangs’ jack-of-all-trades. The redshirt junior scored 10-plus points in three American contests, including 11 points in SMU’s victory over Cincinnati on Feb. 12.
In his senior year at Cincinnati, Caupain has led the Bearcats to a No. 15 national ranking on the court. Off the court, Caupain is one of 30 candidates for the 2016-17 Senior CLASS Award and an active volunteer in the Cincinnati community. Additionally, Caupain served as a host for a panel discussion on race in intercollegiate athletics in 2016 and is a multi-year member of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee at UC. A criminal justice major, Caupain has shadowed probation officers and a Hamilton County (Ohio) court magistrate and talked with youth at an area juvenile detention center.
The awards were voted on by the league’s 11 head coaches. The American Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Scholar-Athlete of the Year and Coach of the Year will be announced at a press conference on Thursday, March 9 at the XL Center at 12:30 p.m. ET.
Individual Awards
Defensive Player of the Year
Tacko Fall, UCF
Most Improved Player
Cameron Reynolds, Tulane
Sixth Man of the Year
Jarron Cumberland, Cincinnati
Ben Emelogu, SMU
Sportsmanship Award
Troy Caupain, Cincinnati
