Galloway and Graham honored

"UC Davis produced Best Sixth Player Siler Schneider and Best Hustle Player Darius Graham, while UC Irvine housed Best Defensive Player Jonathan Galloway to highlight the announcement of the 2017 Big West Men’s Basketball All-Specialty awards.

The conference’s nine head coaches voted on the awards. This is the 17th year that the Big West has named all-specialty award winners.

Schneider is the second UC Davis individual in the the last three seasons to be named the conference’s top sixth player – Josh Fox won the award in 2014-15.  Schneider came off the bench in all but two games and was the team’s third-leading scorer at 11.1 points per game. The 6-3 guard canned 46 three-pointers, second-best among Aggies, and his 64 assists ranked third. The sophomore scored in double figures 18 times, and surpassed the 20-point mark on three occasions, including a career-high 23 points in a victory over CSUN on Feb. 23. The native of Lansing, Kan. hit at least one trey in 11 of 16 conference games. Schneider ranked No. 10 in the Big West in three-point field goal percentage (.374) as well as three-pointers made per game (1.5).

UC Irvine kept its stranglehold on the Best Defensive Player award, as an Anteater earned the hardware for the fourth time in the last five years. Sophomore Jonathan Galloway joined Will Davis II (2013) and Mamadou Ndiaye (2014 & 2016) as centerpieces of Anteater defensive units that have ranked among the best in the Big West in recent years. Galloway accumulated a team-high 32 blocked shots in 32 starts, including 17 rejections during conference play. The 6-10 forward was central to UCI’s league-best defensive unit which allowed just 62.8 points on average in 16 conference games. Galloway, who hails from Brentwood, Calif., also excelled on the boards. He finished the regular season as the Big West’s No. 3 rebounder in conference at 8.4 per game. He gobbled up double-digit caroms in six of the final 11 games.

Graham joined Joe Harden (2010 & 2011) as UC Davis players to notch back-to-back Best Hustle awards. The senior point guard started all 31 games – one of two Aggies to do so – and averaged 7.9 points, 1.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game. The Sacramento, Calif. native knocked down 41 three-pointers for the third-highest total on the Aggie roster. Graham became just the third player in school history to eclipse 400 career assists, entering the Big West Tournament with 410. He committed one turnover or less in 19 of 31 contests.

2016-17 BIG WEST BEST SIXTH PLAYER
Siler Schneider, UC Davis

2016-17 BIG WEST BEST DEFENSIVE PLAYER
Jonathan Galloway, UC Irvine

2016-17 BIG WEST BEST HUSTLE PLAYER
Darius Graham, UC Davis"