Ole Miss senior forward Sebastian Saiz won the C Spire Howell Trophy, an award recognizing the best college basketball player in the state of Mississippi, on Monday.
Saiz has averaged 15.1 points per game this season and leads the Southeastern Conference with 10.9 rebounds per game. At 6-foot-9, he has 19 double-doubles on the season and has been a leader for the 19-12 Rebels who return to the court in Nashville, Tennessee, on Thursday night in the SEC basketball tournament.
He recorded his 19th and most recent double-double of the season in a 75-70 win against South Carolina on Saturday. He had 21 points and 15 rebounds.
As a native from Madrid, Saiz traveled a long way from home to play college basketball, which brought its own unique set of challenges and adjustments. That hasn’t stopped him from becoming one of the best players to ever play for Ole Miss.
Saiz joined former Rebel Murphy Holloway as the only players in the 1,000-point, 900-rebound club in program history. Currently, he ranks seventh in the nation in rebounding. He is also to the first player in program history and just the 16th player in SEC history to record 1,000 points, 900 rebounds and 100 blocked shots.
With Saiz earning this honor, it is now the fifth straight year an Ole Miss basketball player has received the Howell Trophy. Other players who received it include Stefan Moody (2015 and 2016), Jarvis Summers (2014) and Marshall Henderson (2013).
“I’m proud of him,” Ole Miss head coach Andy Kennedy said. “He deserves this.”
Other Howell Trophy finalists included Mississippi State guard Quinndary Weatherspoon and Delta State guard Devin Schmidt. The winner of the award was selected based off votes from a state-wide media panel and fan voting conducted by C Spire.
