He has been spectacular the entire season. Now, he is the 2017-18 Atlantic 10 Player of the Year.
St. Bonaventure senior point guard Jaylen Adams was named the A-10's Co-Player of the Year along with along Davidson senior forward Peyton Aldridge, the conference announced Tuesday. It marks only the third time in conference history that two players have shared the award.
As the Player of the Year, Adams also is a member of the All-Conference first team. In addition, fellow senior guard Matt Mobley joined Adams on the first team All-Conference. Capping his breakout year, junior forward LaDarien Griffin was named co-winner of the Chris Daniels Most Improved Player Award. Griffin shares the honor with Luwane Pipkins of UMass.
Adams is the first St. Bonaventure player ever to earn first team All-Conference honors three times. He is the third Bonnies player to be named the A-10 Player of the Year, joining Andrew Nicholson (2012) and Earl Belcher (1981). In another program first, St. Bonaventure has never had two players make the first team All-Conference in the same season.
Adams is the fourth-leading scorer in the Atlantic 10 Conference at 20.5 points per game. The Baltimore, Md., native also leads the A-10 in three-point field goal percentage at .477, is third in the A-10 in assists (5.3 per game), fifth in steals (1.6) and fifth in free throw percentage (.854). Adams' season included two games of 40-plus points with 40 at Duquesne and a career high 44 against Saint Louis, setting a school record with 10 three-pointers.
For the second year, Mobley teamed with Adams to give the Bonnies one of the top backcourts in the country. Mobley is the sixth-leading scorer in the Atlantic 10 at 18.2 points per game. He has 14 games with 20 points or more including three 30-point games. The 6-3 shooting guard scored a career-high 35 points at George Mason Jan. 31. Mobley is second in the A-10 in three-point field goals (88 total, 2.9 per game), 15th in three-point percentage (.371) and fourth in free throw percentage (.861). Mobley also averages 5.1 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game.
After averaging just 2.7 points and 2.2 rebounds his sophomore season, Griffin emerged as a key contributor this year. The 6-6 small forward is tied for the team lead in rebounding at 6.5 per game and leads the Bonnies with 36 blocked shots. Griffin is fourth on the team in scoring at 8.7 points per game and has recorded the four double-doubles this season, the first of his career. The Jacksonville, Fla., native ranks 14th in the A-10 in rebounding, sixth in blocks and sixth in offensive rebounds (2.4 per game).
This is the fourth straight season that multiple St. Bonaventure players have earned All-Conference accolades. Last year, it was Adams (first team) and Mobley (third team). In 2015-16, Adams and Marcus Posley both made All-Conference and Denzel Gregg was the co-Sixth Man of the Year. In 2014-15, Posley and Youssou Ndoye made All-Conference teams.
Adams, Mobley and Griffin have led St. Bonaventure to a 24-6 record and a second place finish in the Atlantic 10. The Bonnies have won their last 12 games, which is the second-longest active winning streak in Division I. St. Bonaventure will next play in the A-10 Championship Tournament, which is being held at Capital One Arena in Washington, on Friday against the winner of Thursday's quarterfinal round game between Duquesne and Richmond. The game will tipoff at 6 p.m. on NBC Sports Network.
