The Southern Conference Postseason Awards, voted on by a mixture of media and head coaches, selected Samford University men’s basketball head coach Bucky McMillan as the 2023-2024 Coach of the Year.
McMillan, named the media’s Coach of the Year each of the previous two seasons, is the third coach in the SoCon’s 103-year history to win the award three times in a row. Davidson’s Terry Holland, who led the Wildcats to three conference titles from 1969 to 1972, is the last to accomplish this feat.
In his fourth year with the program, McMillan led the Bulldogs to 26 wins and their first-ever outright conference title. Samford scored 86.9 points per game, won all 17 of their home games, and ranked 79th in the NET, an NCAA Tournament selection metric.
The Bulldogs won 17 consecutive games from November 14th to January 20th. All of those marks set new school records.
Three Bulldog players were awarded accolades as well. Junior Achor Achor was named first-team all-SoCon after leading the Bulldogs in almost all major statistical categories.
During the regular season, the forward from Australia averaged 15.2 points per game, 5.8 rebounds per game, and 1.7 blocked shots per game. Achor also ranked third in the conference in field goal percentage, shooting 59.1% from the floor, and sixth in the conference in three-point percentage, making triples at a 44.2% clip.
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Graduate student Rylan Jones was named the SoCon Newcomer of the Year, becoming the first Bulldog to win the award. Jones, a former Utah State transfer, averaged 4.9 assists per game, leading the team.
The point guard posted an assist-to-turnover ratio of 3.56, the sixth-best mark in the nation. Jones was also named to the conference’s third team.
Junior AJ Staton-McCray was one of just five players selected to the conference’s all-defensive team, the only Bulldog to receive the honor. The guard averaged 12.6 points per game, 5.8 rebounds per game, and 0.5 blocks per game, all numbers second on the team behind Achor. The Florida native recorded 1.7 steals per game, ranking fourth in the conference. Staton-McCray was also named to the conference’s third team, joining Jones.
Samford opens SoCon tournament play on Saturday at 11 AM CT in Asheville, North Carolina. The Bulldogs are the conference’s #1 seed for the first time in program history, having clinched the top spot with a home win over East Tennessee State on February 24th.
Samford, holding a first-round bye, will play their first game against the winner of Mercer vs. The Citadel.
Charles Vaughan is a sports analyst and contributing writer for Yellowhammer News
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