During the team’s media day, sophomore center Tacko Fall said he has become more comfortable in the low post. He was referring to his offensive game, at the time. Now, the big man has solidified himself as the best defensive player in the American Athletic Conference with his most recent accolade.
On Wednesday, the conference announced that Fall is the 2016-17 AAC Defensive Player of the Year.
Fall is the fifth Knight ever to win a major conference award, per UCF Communications. The Dakar, Senegal, native is the first player to win a major conference award since the 2008-09 season. He joins Dexter Lyons as the only UCF players to win this award.
A special message from the DPOY Tacko.
Thank you for all the support this season. We're ready to roll to Hartford! #ChargeOn pic.twitter.com/tQ1XvS3duD
— UCF Men's Basketball (@UCF_MBB) March 8, 2017
UCF leads the nation in opposing field-goal percentage, holding teams to an average of 36.1 percent. The Knights are also fourth in the nation in opposing points per game with 60.5. That’s largely due in part to Fall’s team-leading 2.6 blocks per game and 9.6 rebounds per game.
The 7-foot-6 center has also broken a couple records on his away to becoming the AAC Defensive Player of the Year. This season, Fall blocked a single-season best 77 shots and collected 288 rebounds.
This season, Fall was named the AAC Player of the Week once, was named to the AAC weekly honor roll twice and was a member of the Gildan Charleston Classic All-Tournament Team.
UCF will now face the Memphis Tigers on Friday at 2 p.m. in the Knights’ first game of the AAC tournament.
