KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The honors just keep rolling in for Tennessee's Grant Williams.
He snagged his first post-season honor on Monday, being named a 2018-19 first-team Sporting News All-American.
The junior forward is the first Vol since Chris Lofton in 2008 to be named a first-team All-American and just the second since Dale Ellis earned the honor in 1983, according to UT. In total, Williams is the 16th Tennessee player to earn first-team recognition.
Williams, the reigning SEC Player of the Year and a favorite to repeat this season, finished the regular regular season as the top scorer in the league with 19.3 points per game.
"He has been one of the nation's most versatile and reliable players this season, averaging 7.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.5 blocks and 1.2 steals per game, while shooting 57 percent from the field and 83 percent from the free-throw line," said UT in a release.
In a season full of highlights, the first meeting with Vanderbilt on Jan. 23 in Nashville really stands out. Williams scored a career-high 43-points, including a perfect 23 of 23 from the free throw line. That was the most free throws made without a miss by any player in Division I in the last 60 years and was second all-time.
Williams has recently been tabbed a 2019 Citizen Naismith Trophy Men's Player of the Year semifinalist, a Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Award semifinalist, a Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year finalist and was selected for the Oscar Robertson Trophy Final Midseason Watch List and the Men's National Ballot for the John R. Wooden Award.