Basketball Tigers honored at awards banquet

Senior Korvotney Barber garnered six awards and was named Most Valuable Player at the 20th annual Auburn Basketball Awards Banquet Monday at the Hotel at Auburn University.

Barber was also named the Outstanding Rebounder and Outstanding co-Offensive Player with Rasheem Barrett, Tay Waller and DeWayne Reed. Barber received awards for being named SEC Player of the Week from March 3-8 and for being selected to the Associated Press and Coaches All-SEC second-teams.

Barber received a painted ball for finishing 22nd on Auburn's all-time scoring list with 1,150 career points and set the school single season record with 347 rebounds this year.

Barber was the only player in the SEC who averaged a double-double in league play with 12.8 points and 11.3 rebounds. In all games, the Manchester, Ga., native finished second in the SEC averaging 9.6 rebounds per game, was fifth in the league shooting 54.5 percent from the floor, led the SEC with 3.7 offensive rebounds per game, was ninth with 1.2 blocks and was 20th averaging 12.8 points.

Barrett finished in a tie for 12th on Auburn's all-time scoring chart with 1,386 career points and averaged 9.9 points and 3.5 rebounds this year, but averaged 11.9 points in SEC games only.

Waller averaged 12.1 points and ranked third in the SEC shooting 36.8 percent from 3-point range and was second in the league with 100 made 3-pointers, which ranked second on Auburn's single-season chart.

Reed, who also won the Playmaker Award, averaged a team-high 13.2 points (17th in the SEC), was sixth in the league with 3.7 assists and was third with 1.9 steals.

Senior Quantez Robertson collected five awards in the Paul Lambert/Tommy Joe Eagles Memorial Trophy for Leadership, the Outstanding Defensive Player for the third consecutive time and was named to the Coaches All-SEC Defensive Team.

The Lambert/Eagles Memorial Trophy is given in memory of Auburn's 15th head basketball coach, Paul Lambert, who died in a hotel fire June 6, 1978, in Columbus, Ga., and Tommy Joe Eagles, who died unexpectedly of a heart attack July 30, 1994, two months after becoming the head coach at New Orleans.

Robertson started 125 of 126 games played at Auburn which ranked as the second most starts on the Tigers' all-time chart, three shy of Frank Ford. He was presented a painted Auburn basketball for his 529 career assists, fourth on Auburn's all-time chart.

Robertson averaged 6.0 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.2 assists and was awarded the Iron Tiger Award for weightlifting and was one of four Tigers to receive the Iron Man Award for not missing a practice the entire season.

Junior Lucas Hargrove and freshman Frankie Sullivan were co-recipients of the Sixth-Man Award as Hargrove averaged 8.1 points and 5.3 rebounds in 25.1 minutes per game. Hargrove started 14 of 36 games for the Tigers. Sullivan, who also received an award for being named SEC Freshman of the Week on Feb. 16, averaged 7.6 points in only 19.2 minutes per game.

Hargrove, Jake Drum and Josh Wallace were the other three Tigers to receive the Iron Man Award for not missing a practice.

Senior Drew Smith received the Academic Achievement Award for the third consecutive year and is the recipient of the 2008-09 Brad Davis SEC Community Service Post-Graduate Scholarship.

Auburn finished with a 24-12 record overall (10-6 SEC) and recorded the second most wins in school history en route to reaching the NIT quarterfinals. The Tigers were one of the hottest teams in the country as they won eight of their final nine regular season games and finished winning 11 of its final 14.