Bucky McMillan named Southern Conference Coach of the Year, three players earn conference honors

HOMEWOOD, Ala. (WBRC) - For the third consecutive year, Samford men’s basketball coach Bucky McMillan has been named as the Southern Conference (SoCon) Coach of the Year (COY), the university announced Wednesday. McMillan was named as the SoCon COY the previous two seasons by the media.

McMillan led the team to a program record 26 wins and to their first ever outright regular season SoCon title in the 2023-2024 season.

In addition to McMillan being named as the SoCon COY, three of his players received SoCon awards as well.

Achor Achor was named to the first team All-SoCon list after a 2023-2024 campaign that saw him average 15.2 points per game (PPG) and 5.8 rebounds per game (RPG), leading the Bulldogs in both categories. Achor also ranked third in the conference in field goal percentage (.591) and blocked shots per game (1.7).

Samford graduate student Rylan Jones was named as the Conference Newcomer of the Year and to the third team All-SoCon list after he led the conference in assist to turnover ratio at 3.56. Jones also ranked third in the SoCon in assists per game with 4.9.

Bulldogs junior A.J. Stanton-McCray joined Jones on the third team All-SoCon list after he averaged 12.6 PPG and 4.9 RPG, finishing second on the team in both categories. Stanton-McCray was also named to the SoCon All-Defensive team.

Samford will enter the SoCon Tournament this week as the #1 overall seed. The Bulldogs will take on either Mercer or The Citadel Saturday, March 9 at 11 a.m.

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