Alvarado, Banks, Devoe Earn ACC Honors

THE FLATS – Georgia Tech’s Jose Alvarado, Michael Devoe and James Banks III have all earned Atlantic Coast Conference honors as announced Monday by the conference office. Alvarado was voted to the All-ACC third team, while Devoe earned honorable mention recognition, and Banks made the ACC’s All-Defensive team for the second straight year.

The 2019-20 All-ACC team was determined by a 75-person selection panel consisting of the league’s 15 head coaches and 60 members of the media.

Alvarado, a junior guard from Brooklyn, N.Y., overcame a seven-game absence due to an ankle injury in November and December to lead the Yellow Jackets in scoring in ACC games (16.05 points per game), which ranks eighth in the conference. The 6-foot guard also ranks sixth in field goal percentage in league games (46.5 percent), No. 8 in assists (4.32 per game), and No. 1 in steals (2.37 per game). Overall, Alvarado set career highs for scoring average (14.4 points per game) and assist average (4.0 per game), and he scored 20 or more points seven times.

Devoe, a sophomore guard from Orlando, Fla., became one of the top scorers and three-point shooters in the ACC, averaging 16 points a game to rank seventh in the conference, connected on 47.6 percent of his shots from the floor to rank fifth, and hit 42.7 percent of his three-point tries. In ACC games, he averaged 14.6 points, hit 47.6 percent of his shots from the floor and 44.2 percent of his three-point tries. He scored 20 or more points in 10 games.

Together, they accounted for more than 40 percent of the Yellow Jackets’ scoring in ACC games, and rank in the top six of the conference in effective field goal percentage and three-point percentage as a team.

Banks, a senior center from Decatur, Ga., becomes the fourth Georgia Tech center to make the ACC’s All-Defensive team twice, ranking No. 2 in the conference in blocked shots (2.45 per game), and anchoring a Tech defense that ranks sixth in the ACC in scoring defense and No. 4 in field goal percentage defense. The Jackets rank No. 5 in defensive efficiency and No. 3 in effective field goal percentage defense, according to KenPom.com. The 6-10 center ranks No. 9 in the league in rebound average (7.7 per game). In two seasons, he rose to No. 8 on the Yellow Jackets’ career blocked shot list with 154.

Banks joins Ben Lammers (2017, 2018), Daniel Miller (2013, 2014) and Alvin Jones (2000, 2001) to make the ACC’s All-Defensive team twice.

The trio led Georgia Tech to a fifth-place finish in the ACC regular season, the program’s highest finish since 2005, with an 11-9 record, the first winning mark for the team since 2004. The Yellow Jackets won six of their last seven games, and nine of their last 12, to finish 17-14 overall.

Duke sophomore guard Tre Jones was voted the 2020 ACC Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year. Duke’s Vernon Carey Jr. was the runaway pick for ACC Rookie of the Year, claiming 70 of the 75 votes for the award.

Jones and Carey Jr. were joined on the All-ACC first team by Louisville’s Jordan Nwora, Notre Dame’s John Mooney and Syracuse’s Elijah Hughes.

Florida State’s Leonard Hamilton was voted ACC Coach of the Year after guiding FSU to its first ACC regular-season championship and the Seminoles’ first in any league since the 1989 Metro Conference regular-season title. The Seminole’s Patrick Williams was voted the ACC’s Sixth Man of the Year, while North Carolina’s Garrison Brooks was named the conference’s Most Improved Player.

2020 All-ACC Men’s Basketball Team

First Team	Second Team	Third Team
Vernon Carey Jr., Duke, 367	Mamadi Diakite, Virginia, 234	Kihei Clark, Virginia, 98
Jordan Nwora, Louisville, 359	Devin Vassell, Florida State, 212	Jose Alvarado, Georgia Tech, 87
John Mooney, Notre Dame, 351	Garrison Brooks, North Carolina, 209	Aamir Simms, Clemson, 79
Tre Jones, Duke, 348	Trent Forrest, Florida State, 200	Cole Anthony, North Carolina, 69
Elijah Hughes, Syracuse, 305	Markell Johnson, NC State, 101	Olivier Sarr, Wake Forest, 63
Honorable Mention	All-Defensive Team	All-Freshman Team
Landers Nolley II, Virginia Tech, 58	Tre Jones, Duke, 64	Vernon Carey Jr., Duke, 75
Michael Devoe, Georgia Tech, 48	Mamadi Diakite, Virginia, 55	Cole Anthony, North Carolina, 55
Brandon Childress, Wake Forest 44	Trent Forrest, Florida State, 55	Landers Nolley II, Virginia Tech, 54
Chris Lykes, Miami, 32	James Banks III, Georgia Tech, 34	Cassius Stanley, Duke, 36
M.J. Walker, Florida State, 22	Steffon Mitchell, Boston College, 30	Patrick Williams, Florida State, 29
Braxton Key, Virginia, 16
Dwayne Sutton, Louisville 15
Steffon Mitchell, Boston College, 11
ACC Player of the Year	Rookie of the Year	Defensive Player of the Year
Tre Jones, Duke, 34	Vernon Carey Jr., Duke, 70	Tre Jones, Duke, 45
Jordan Nwora, Louisville, 17	Landers Nolley II, Virginia Tech, 2	Trent Forrest, Florida State, 18
John Mooney, Notre Dame, 11	Cole Anthony, North Carolina, 2	Steffon Mitchell, Boston College, 8
Elijah Hughes, Syracuse, 7	Patrick Williams, Florida State, 1	Kihei Clark, Virginia, 3
Trent Forrest, Florida State, 4		Manny Bates, NC State, 1
Mamadi Diakite, Virginia 2
Most Improved Player	6th Man of the Year	Coach of the Year
Garrison Brooks, North Carolina, 17	Patrick Williams, Florida State, 35	Leonard Hamilton, Florida State, 62
Olivier Sarr, Wake Forest, 16	Malik Williams, Louisville, 28	Tony Bennett, Virginia, 12
Devin Vassell, Florida State, 16	Dane Goodwin, Notre Dame, 9	Chris Mack, Louisville, 1
Buddy Boeheim, Syracuse, 10	Isaiah Wong, Miami, 3
Aamir Simms, Clemson, 6
Moses Wright, Georgia Tech, 6
Prentiss Hubb, Notre Dame, 2
DJ Funderburk, NC State, 1
Jay Huff, Virginia, 1

Note: All-ACC Team points are determined on a 5-3-1 system (five points for first team, three points for second team, one point for third team).

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