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Skylar Mays, Trendon Watford Among Honorees On LSWA Team

by Kent Lowe | Sr. Assoc. Communications Director
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Skylar Mays, Trendon Watford Among Honorees On LSWA Team

BATON ROUGE – LSU senior guard Skylar Mays and freshman Trendon Watford earned two of the top honors announced Tuesday for the 2020 All-Louisiana men’s basketball team as selected by a panel of the Louisiana Sports Writers Association. 

Mays earned first-team honors and was named the LSWA Player of the Year after a stellar season to complete his four-year career. 

Watford was a second-team selection and was chosen by the voters as LSWA Freshman of the Year. 

Sophomore guard Javonte Smart was part of the All-Louisiana team selected for the third team. 

Mays led the Tigers in scoring at 16.7 points a game, starting all 31 games. Mays played an average of 34.5 points a game, averaging 5.0 rebounds a game, 3.2 assists and 1.8 steals a game. Mays had a 1.4 assist-to-turnover ratio and made 50 three-pointers. 

Mays was eighth in the Southeastern Conference in scoring and fifth in both field goal percentage (49.1 percent) and free throw percentage (85.4 percent). The Baton Rouge native was fourth in steals average. He also earned first-team All-SEC honors. 

Mays was also for the third year in a row named a CoSIDA Academic All-America and this season was the Academic All-America of the Year for men’s basketball. 

Watford, a native of Birmingham, Alabama, was second on the LSU team in scoring at 13.6 points per game and a team best 7.2 rebounds a game. Watford started 30 games, scoring in double figures 25 times, including 13-of-the-last-14 games the Tigers played. He scored 26 points at Vanderbilt, 22 points in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge game at Texas and 21 points in the win at home against Arkansas. 

Watford was sixth in rebound average overall and third in the 18-game league rebounding stats with a team best 8.1 boards a game. 

Smart, who moved fulltime into the point-guard position, averaged 12.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game with a 1.8 assist-to-turnover ratio. The Baton Rouge product led the SEC in assist-to-turnover ratio in the 18 SEC games at 2.1 a game. 

The Tigers finished in a tie for second in the SEC and posted a 21-10 overall record, winning 20 games in back-to-back seasons for just the third time in the last 27 years. 

Louisiana Tech Coach Eric Konkol, who became the first Bulldog coach to claim LSWA Men’s Coach of the Year honors since Kerry Rupp in 2010, led Louisiana Tech to a 22-8 overall record, the most wins among both Conference USA and in-state Division I schools. 
 
Under Konkol’s guidance, the Bulldogs, went 15-1 at home, finished second overall in C-USA with 13-5 conference mark, and was one of eight teams nationally to rank in the top-40 in both field goal percentage and field goal defense. 

Jalen Johnson of UL-Lafayette earned Newcomer of the Year honors. Johnson, a second-team selection who prepped at Baton Rouge’s University Lab, finished as the top newcomer in the Sun Belt Conference in scoring after averaging a team-high 15.5 points per game. The junior led the Ragin’ Cajuns in rebounds (6.6) and ranked among the Sun Belt Conference leaders in scoring, rebounds, free throw percentage (.829), field goal percentage (.428) and minutes played per game (33.9).

Mays was joined on the first team by Louisiana Tech guard DaQuan Bracey, Cedric Harris of Centenary College, Sha’Markus Kennedy of McNeese and New Orleans’ Bryson Robinson. 
 
Joining Johnson and Watford on the second team was Malik Amos of Dillard, Michael Ertel of ULM and William Loyd of Xavier. 
 
The third team consisted of LSU’s  Smart, Kae’Ron Baker of Louisiana College, Chudier Bile of Northwestern State, Myles Burns of Loyola (N.O.) and Tulane’s Christion Thompson. 

2020 ALL-LOUISIANA MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL TEAM 
(selected by the state men’s basketball sports information directors and media panel)

 
PLAYER OF THE YEAR – Skylar Mays, LSU
NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR – Jalen Johnson, UL-Lafayette
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR – Trendon Watford, LSU
COACH OF THE YEAR – Eric Konkol, Louisiana Tech
 
FIRST TEAM
DaQuan Bracey, Louisiana Tech – G, Sr., Baltimore, Md., 12.9 ppg., 2.9 apg., 1.1 spg.,
Cedric Harris, Centenary – G, Sr., Shreveport, La., 20.2 ppg., 8.7 rpg.
Sha’Markus Kennedy, McNeese – F, Sr., Tuscaloosa, Ala., 18.6 ppg., 10.9 rpg., 2.6 bpg.
Skylar Mays, LSU – G, Sr., Baton Rouge, La., 16.7 ppg., 5.0 rpg., 3.2 rpg.
Bryson Robinson, New Orleans – G, Sr., Mesquite, Texas, 17.9 ppg., 4.1 rpg., 2.6 apg.
 
SECOND TEAM
Malik Amos, Dillard – G, Jr., Missouri City, Texas, 19.1 ppg., 2.6 rpg.
Michael Ertel, ULM – G, Jr., Indianapolis, Ind., 16.2 ppg., 3.3 rpg., 2.8 apg.
Jalen Johnson, UL-Lafayette – F, Jr., Baton Rouge, La., 15.5 ppg., 6.6 rpg.   
William Loyd, Xavier – F, Sr., Baton Rouge, La., 16.5 ppg, 7.6 rpg.
Trendon Watford, LSU – F, Fr., Birmingham, Ala., 13.6 ppg., 7.2 rpg., 1.7 apg.
 
THIRD TEAM
Kae’Ron Baker, Louisiana College – G, Jr., Navasota, Texas, 19.8 ppg., 5.3 rpg., 3.0 apg.
Chudier Bile, Northwestern State – F, Jr., Denver, Colo., 14.3 ppg., 7.6 rpg.
Myles Burns, Loyola – G/F, Soph., Houston, Texas, 14.1 ppg., 8.0 rpg.
Javonte Smart, LSU – G, Soph., Baton Rouge, La., 12.5 ppg., 3.5 rpg., 4.2 apg.
Christion Thompson, Tulane – G, Sr., Gonzales, La., 14.1 ppg., 6.3 rpg., 2.8 apg.
 
HONORABLE MENTION
Traquan Knight, LSU Shreveport; Ivy Smith, Jr., Grambling, Mylik Wilson, UL-Lafayette