SMU's Nic Moore wins AAC player of the year

SMU guard Nic Moore, who led the Mustangs to the American Athletic Conference regular-season title, has been named the conference's player of the year.

"I know I won this, but this is all about everybody dressed in blue," Moore said Thursday at a press conference announcing the winners, singling out his SMU teammates. "I just want to say thank you to all of them."

Moore averaged 14.4 points and 5.2 assists per game. He led the league in 3-point and free throw shooting as well as free throw percentage. He hit 43 percent of his 3-pointers and 87.5 percent of his foul shots.

Moore was named to the all-conference team earlier this week. Two other Mustangs also received AAC accolades: Markus Kennedy earned Sixth Man of the Year and Yanick Moreira was announced as Most Improved Player.

Temple coach Fran Dunphy, whose Owls finished the regular season at 22-9, received the league's coach of the year award.

SMU won the AAC regular season crown on Sunday with a 67-62 win over Tulsa. It was SMU's first league title since 1993 and the school was a member of the now-defunct Southwest Conference.

SMU is 24-6 overall and finished 15-3 in the American Athletic Conference.

The Mustangs have the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament that gets underway on Thursday in Hartford, Connecticut. SMU has a first round bye and will play the winner of UCF-East Carolina in the AAC quarterfinals Friday.

The Mustangs are looking to make their first NCAA tournament since the 1992-93 season. Predictors last year had SMU in the NCAA tournament, but the team was snubbed by the selection committee.

"I do not believe SMU will be going to the NIT this year," said AAC commissioner Mike Aresco at Thursday's press conference.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.