Silva Named Preseason First-Team All-SEC By Media

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina senior forward Chris Silva was named to the Preseason All-SEC First Team on Wednesday in voting by a select panel of both SEC and national media members.  Silva also received votes in the Player of the Year voting.  The honor marks Silva’s second-career preseason accolade, as he was named to the Preseason All-SEC Second Team by league coaches prior to his junior campaign. 
 
Silva is Carolina’s top returning scorer (14.3) and rebounder (8.0), and is the SEC’s top returning rebounder as well.  He was named to the All-SEC First Team, the All-Defensive Team and co-Defensive Player of the Year by league coaches last season after a dominant performance in conference play, pacing the Gamecocks with 14.8 points and 7.8 rebounds per outing.  Last season, Silva led the team in points, rebounds and blocks per game (1.4), while he ranked second nationally with 283 free throw attempts on the year, and sixth with 213 made at the line.  For his career, Silva has 15 double-doubles, 55 double-figure scoring games and 39 games with two or more blocks. 
 
Arkansas’ Daniel Gafford, Kentucky’s Reid Travis, LSU’s Tremont Waters and Tennessee’s Grant Williams were also selected to the First Team by the media.
 
The complete list of preseason teams is listed below:
 
First Team
Daniel Gafford – Arkansas
Reid Travis – Kentucky
Tremont Waters – LSU
Chris Silva – South Carolina
Grant Williams – Tennessee
 
Second Team
Bryce Brown – Auburn
Jared Harper – Auburn
Jalen Hudson – Florida
PJ Washington – Kentucky
Quinndary Weatherspoon – Mississippi State
Jontay Porter – Missouri
Admiral Schofield – Tennessee
 
Preseason SEC Player of the Year
Grant Williams – Tennessee