Published 12:00 am Wednesday, March 12, 2014
GREENSBORO — North Carolina State’s T.J. Warren is the Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year.
In results announced Tuesday, Warren received 48 of a possible 77 votes from members of the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association.
The media also chose Duke’s Jabari Parker as the league’s top rookie, Virginia’s Tony Bennett as its coach of the year and Clemson’s K.J. McDaniels as the defensive player of the year.
Those picks mirrored the ACC coaches’ selections released later Tuesday.
Parker received 72 votes for the rookie award and was runner-up to Warren for player of the year with 25 votes. North Carolina’s Marcus Paige (two) was the only other player with multiple votes.
Warren is the league’s leading scorer with an average of nearly 25 points per game and makes an ACC-best 53 percent of his shots.
Warren ended the regular season with back-to-back 40-point performances against Pittsburgh and Boston College — the first time that’s happened since Georgia Tech’s Kenny Anderson did it in 1990.
He and Parker were the only unanimous all-ACC first team selections by the media.
Parker is bidding to become the first Duke freshman to lead the team in scoring and rebounds. His average of 19.2 points is second to Warren in the ACC and he averages a league-best nine rebounds.
Bennett had 68 votes for the coaching award to six for North Carolina’s Roy Williams. His Cavaliers — picked in the preseason to finish fourth in the league — finished 25-6, went 16-2 in the league and claimed the No. 1 seed in the ACC tournament, which begins Wednesday in Greensboro.
McDaniels had 39 votes for the defensive award to 21 for Virginia’s Akil Mitchell.