Waller Named MVP At Basketball Awards Banquet

Frankie Sullivan

April 13, 2010

AUBURN - Senior Tay Waller garnered three awards and was named the Most Valuable Player at the 21st annual Auburn Basketball Awards Banquet Tuesday at the Hotel at Auburn University.

Waller was also named the Outstanding Offensive Player and received an award for being the SEC's 3-point field goals made leader with 3.4 per game and was ranked fourth nationally. He was second in the SEC shooting 41.0 percent from 3-point range, eighth shooting 47.4 percent from the field and was eighth in the league averaging 15.3 points. The Manchester, Ga., native became the first player since All-American Wesley Person in 1994 to score 20 points or more in five straight SEC games.

Junior Frankie Sullivan was named the Outstanding Defensive Player and was presented the most prestigious award, the Paul Lambert/Tommy Joe Eagles Memorial Trophy for Leadership. The Lambert-Eagles Memorial Trophy is given in memory of Auburn's 15th head basketball coach, Paul Lambert, who died in a hotel fire on June 6, 1978, in Columbus, Ga., and Tommy Joe Eagles, who died unexpectedly of a heart attack on July 30, 1994, two months after becoming the head coach at New Orleans.

Sullivan finished second in the SEC shooting 85.1 percent from the free throw line, was second in the league averaging 1.9 steals and ranked 25th averaging 12.7 points per game.

Senior DeWayne Reed earned a pair of awards in the Playmaker Award and finished as the co-Auburn career steals leader with 210, tying Quantez Robertson. Reed finished with 1,428 career points to rank 11th all-time at Auburn. The Houston, Texas, native ranked sixth in the SEC averaging 16.2 points and was fifth with 4.3 assists. In his final six games, he averaged 18.0 points and went 34-of-40 from the foul line.

The Outstanding Rebounder award was presented to Lucas Hargrove, who averaged a team-high 7.0 rebounds to go along with 12.8 points per game. He ranked 10th in the SEC in rebounding and was 24th in scoring. Senior Brendon Knox received the Sixth-Man Award as he averaged 8.7 points and 3.9 rebounds while shooting 66.3 percent from the field. Knox averaged 21.2 minutes per game and came off the bench in all but four of Auburn's 32 games.

Freshman Josh Wallace received the Academic Achievement Award. The pre-Civil Engineering major played in 24 games.