Georgia’s Yante Maten named AP SEC Player of the Year, All-SEC First Team member

Georgia forward Yante Maten was named AP SEC Player of the Year on Tuesday. (Curtis Compton/ccompton@ajc.com)

Credit: ccompton@ajc.com

Credit: ccompton@ajc.com

Georgia forward Yante Maten was named AP SEC Player of the Year on Tuesday. (Curtis Compton/ccompton@ajc.com)

Georgia senior Yante Maten was named the AP Southeastern Conference Player of the Year on Tuesday. The forward from Michigan received 11-of-15  votes by the media panel.

Maten leads the SEC in scoring (19.4) and ranks second in the league in rebounding (8.8). This marks the first time since 1971 an AP SEC player of the year has come from a team that ended the regular season below .500 in conference play. The Bulldogs ended their season at 16-14, and 7-11 in conference.

Maten was also one of two players to be a unanimous choice for first-team All-SEC, along with Tennessee’s Grant Williams.

The SEC coaches choose Williams as their Player of the Year over Maten. However, he was still named to the All-SEC First Team by the coaches.