March 6, 2016
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State's Steve Fisher and Skylar Spencer have been named Mountain West Coach of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, respectively, by the media that cover the league. Each market was represented in the voting with voters ranking their top 15 players for first-, second- and third-team.
The Aztecs, who won their third straight regular-season title and won the outright championship this season by three games, had no one voted to the first team, but had the most representatives on the top three teams and the most overall. Winston Shepard was SDSU's lone second-team selection, while Jeremy Hemsley and Trey Kell were placed on the third team. Spencer was an honorable mention selection.
For Fisher, this is his fourth Mountain West conference coach-of-the-year award. He was also honored in 2011, 2012 and 2014. The 17th-year head coach helped the Aztecs match the conference record for largest separation between the first- and second-place teams (2004-05 Utah) and most league wins (16; 2013-14 SDSU). Fisher also guided San Diego State to the outright title, which was the school's MW-best 10th league championship, with three games left to play.
Spencer is now a two-time media defensive player of year after earning recognition from the same collection of people a season ago. The senior averaged 1.6 blocked shots and a career-high 6.0 rebounds for one of the elite defensive teams in the country. Spencer was the anchor to a unit that ranked first nationally in field-goal percentage defense (.370), second in kenpom's tempo-free adjusted defense (90.1), fourth in two-point field-goal percentage defense (.411), fifth in scoring defense (60.0) and seventh in three-point field-goal percentage defense (.300).
Shepard landed on the second team for the second straight season after a regular season in which he averaged 10.9 points, a team-high 6.2 rebounds and a team-best 2.7 assists. The senior posted four games with at least 15 points, five rebounds and five assists, and picked up his game in conference, averaging 12.3 points, 6.8 boards, 3.3 assists and 1.2 steals. Shepard scored in double figures 17 times and San Diego State has won 16 straight games when he has reached the double-digit scoring plateau.
Hemsley is a third-team honoree while leading the MW champions in scoring (13.1), something no freshman has done since Kawhi Leonard in 2010. A Rancho Cucamonga native, the guard started 25 of 30 games and shot 45.8 percent, 38.5 percent from three and a team-best 77.0 percent from the charity stripe, while grabbing 2.7 rebounds and dishing 2.0 assists. He is one of two true freshmen in the country to average at least 13.0 points, 2.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 45.0 percent shooting, 38.5 percent three-point shooting and 77.0 percent free-throw accuracy. He has reached double figures in scoring a team-best 25 times and leads all conference freshmen in scoring.
Kell is a first-time all-conference player after averaging 12.6 points in all games and a team-best 16.2 points in conference play. The sophomore scored in double figures 23 times with 18 coming against Mountain West competition while starting all 31 games. The San Diego native also shot a team-high 38.7 percent from three-point distance, and averaged 4.0 rebounds and 1.6 assists. More recently, Kell has been deadly from deep, connecting on 24 of his last 46 from three-point range in his last six games (52.2 percent).
San Diego State will be the top-seeded team in this week's Mountain West Championship. The Aztecs will face the winner of (8) Wyoming and (9) Utah State on Thursday at noon PT inside Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. The game will air on CBS Sports Network.
2015-16 All-Mountain West Teams – Media Selections
1st Team
Josh Adams, Wyoming, Sr. – 160 points (7)
Marvelle Harris, Fresno State, Sr. – 156 (4)
James Webb III, Boise State, Jr. – 137
Elijah Brown, New Mexico, So. – 135
Tim Williams, New Mexico, Jr. – 104
2nd Team
Marqueze Coleman, Nevada, Sr. – 95
Winston Shepard, San Diego State, Sr. – 80
Patrick McCaw, UNLV, So. – 72
Cameron Oliver, Nevada, Fr. – 61
Antwan Scott, Colorado State, Sr. – 47
3rd Team
Jalen Moore, Utah State, Jr. – 44
Chris Smith, Utah State, Sr. – 43
Jeremy Hemsley, San Diego State, Fr. – 40
Trey Kell, San Diego State, So. – 36
Mikey Thompson, Boise State, Sr. – 23
Honorable mention: Hayden Graham, Air Force; Anthony Drmic, Boise State; Emmanuel Omogbo and Tiel Daniels, Colorado State; Skylar Spencer, San Diego State; Cullen Russo, San Jose State; Stephen Zimmerman Jr., UNLV; Jason McManamen, Wyoming.
Player of the Year: Josh Adams, Wyoming (7)
Coach of the Year: Steve Fisher, San Diego State (7)
Newcomer of the Year: Elijah Brown, New Mexico (6)
Freshman of the Year: Cameron Oliver, Nevada (7)
Defensive Player of the Year: Skylar Spencer, San Diego State (5)
Sixth Man of the Year: Tyron Criswell, Nevada (5)
*Voters ranked their top 15 players for first-, second- and third-team All-MW with their player of the year pick receiving 15 points and the last man on the third-team receiving one point.