BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Auburn Head Coach Bruce Pearl, freshman forward Jabari Smith and sophomore center Walker Kessler were honored as the Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, in a vote by the league's head coaches released on Tuesday.
Pearl became the first men's basketball or football coach in conference history to lead two SEC schools to a No. 1 national ranking (Tennessee in 2008 and Auburn in 2022). He also led the Tigers to a program-record 15 conference regular-season wins, an outright SEC regular-season championship title (first since 1999), a 19-game win streak, the program's third all-time No. 1 SEC Tournament seed, an undefeated 16-0 season on their home court at Neville Arena and their fourth 25+ win season in the last five years.
He is the sixth Auburn men's basketball coach on eight occasions to win the award next to legends Joel Eaves (1960), Bob Davis (1975), Sonny Smith (1984 and 1988), Tommy Joe Eagles (1990) and Cliff Ellis (1995 and 1999). Pearl is currently on the Naismith Men's College Coach of the Year Watch List.
This is Pearl's third career honor as SEC Coach of the Year next to 2006 and 2008, while he was the head coach at Tennessee. Additionally, it is his eighth Coach of the Year award as he was named twice as Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) Coach of the Year during his time as the head coach at NCAA Division II Southern Indiana in 1993 and 1994 and three times as Horizon League Coach of the Year as the head coach at Milwaukee in 2003, 2004 and 2005.
Smith, a 6-foot-10 freshman from Fayetteville, Ga., and Kessler, a 7-foot-1 sophomore from Newnan, Ga., made history as the first Auburn players in program history to win SEC Freshman and Defensive Player of the Year respectively. They were both named to the All-SEC First Team.
One of the top projected lottery picks in this year's NBA Draft, Smith turned in an impressive rookie campaign garnering SEC Freshman of the Week honors six times (the most of any Tiger all-time), while averaging a team-leading 17.1 points per game and shooting 43.6 percent from behind the 3-point arc this season.
With those numbers, he earned a spot on the SEC All-Freshman Team – the third-straight Auburn freshman player to be tabbed one of the league's top rookies along with Isaac Okoro in 2020 and Sharife Cooper in 2021. Both went on to play in the NBA.
Smith also became the first Auburn player since 1999 to earn a spot on an All-America Team as The Sporting News selected him to its All-America Second Team on Monday. He is also a national finalist for the John R. Wooden Award and Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award.
The program's single-season record holder in blocked shots (140), Kessler had an equally impressive year as part of the nation's top front court duo from Auburn. He currently is the NCAA Division I and SEC leader in blocked shots averaging 4.5 a game. He also leads the team in rebounding (8.2 rpg) and is fourth in steals (33).
Kessler was honored on the SEC All-Defensive Team alongside Keon Ellis of Alabama, J. Williams of Arkansas, Oscar Tshiebwe of Kentucky and Zakai Zeigler of Tennessee. This season, the big man became the second-ever Tiger to record a triple-double since Kenny Gabriel in 2012 and has two on the season which ranks second-most in SEC history.
He is a national finalist for the John R. Wooden Award, Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Award and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award.