GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida’s top two scorers and rebounders, Tre Mann and Colin Castleton, earned All-Southeastern Conference honors on Tuesday, as SEC coaches named Mann to the first team and Castleton to the second team.
Mann has led the Gators in scoring in six of his last nine appearances and was named SEC Player of the Week on March 1 after leading UF to road wins at Auburn and Kentucky. He earned his first career double-double in the win at Auburn with 19 points and 13 rebounds, the first Florida guard since Nick Calathes to reach those numbers in a game. Mann is averaging 15.0 points and 5.7 rebounds per game this season and has a chance to become the third Gator over the last decade to average 15 points per game (Jalen Hudson, 15.5, 2017-18; Kenny Boynton, 15.9, 2011-12). Mann has raised his scoring average by 9.7 points per game over his freshman season (5.3), the largest increase by a Gator since Joakim Noah boosted his average by 10.7 points between his freshman and sophomore seasons (3.2 to 14.2).
Castleton is a two-time SEC Player of the Week, the seventh Gator in program history to win the award multiple times. The Deland native began SEC play with a bang, going for 20+ points in three of the Gators’ first five conference contests, including a career-high 23 points in the opener at Vanderbilt. Castleton, who averages 12.7 points and 5.7 rebounds per game, is also the SEC’s second-leading shot-blocker at 2.3 per game. His stat line of 21 points, 10 rebounds and eight blocked shots vs. Ole Miss was the first 20/10/8-block line in SEC league play in 24 years (Ansu Sesay, Ole Miss, 29/13/8 vs. Mississippi State, 2/19/97). He also became the first SEC player to block six or more shots in consecutive games since LSU’s Jordan Mickey did so in Jan. 2015.
The Gators have had multiple All-SEC honorees in back-to-back seasons after Keyontae Johnson and Kerry Blackshear Jr. earned recognition in 2019-20. The Gators finished fifth in SEC regular season action despite the loss of Johnson, the SEC’s preseason player of the year, in December. Among Florida’s accomplishments in conference play were a 26-point rout of No. 6 Tennessee in January that matched UF’s largest win ever vs. a top-10 team, along with a road win at Kentucky in February, Florida’s 11th all-time and second under Mike White.
Florida opens SEC Tournament action on Thursday against the winner of Wednesday’s Texas A&M-Vanderbilt game. If the Gators face Vanderbilt, they will be looking for a third win vs. the Commodores. If the Aggies win, Florida will be facing them for the first time all season after the Feb. 13 meeting was canceled. The last time UF played an opponent in the SEC Tournament that it had not already faced in the regular season was 1949.
First Team All-SEC
Herbert Jones, Alabama
John Petty Jr., Alabama
Moses Moody, Arkansas
Tre Mann, Florida
Cameron Thomas, LSU
Devontae Shuler, Ole Miss
Dru Smith, Missouri
Scotty Pippen Jr., Vanderbilt
Second Team All-SEC
Jaden Shackelford, Alabama
Colin Castleton, Florida
Sahvir Wheeler, Georgia
Javonte Smart, LSU
Trendon Watford, LSU
D.J. Stewart Jr., Mississippi State
Jeremiah Tilmon, Missouri
AJ Lawson, South Carolina
All-Freshman Team
Joshua Primo, Alabama
Moses Moody, Arkansas
Sharife Cooper, Auburn
KD Johnson, Georgia
Isaiah Jackson, Kentucky
Cameron Thomas, LSU
Keon Johnson, Tennessee
Jaden Springer, Tennessee
All-Defensive Team
Herbert Jones, Alabama
Isaiah Jackson, Kentucky
Abdul Ado, Mississippi State
Dru Smith, Missouri
Yves Pons, Tennessee
Coach of the Year: Nate Oats, Alabama
Player of the Year: Herbert Jones, Alabama
Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Dylan Disu, Vanderbilt
Freshman of the Year: Moses Moody, Arkansas
Sixth-Man of the Year: JD Notae, Arkansas
Defensive Player of the Year: Herbert Jones, Alabama
