Wiley selected to preseason SEC second team

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Austin Wiley selected to preseason SEC second team

Posted Nov 04, 2019

2 minutes

After being overlooked by the media’s preseason polls, Auburn center Austin Wiley was selected to the coaches’ preseason all-SEC second team.

The preseason honors are selected by all 14 coaches in the SEC, and Wiley was one of 20 players chosen.

In the 2018-2019 season, Wiley played in 29 games and averaged 6.9 points and 4.0 rebounds per game. He had the best shooting percentage (57 percent) on the Final Four team and had 37 blocks.

The senior center was highly recruited out of high school and was placed on the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award Watch List, which is given to the nation’s top center. However, Wiley was withheld his sophomore season and dealt with injuries through his junior year. Out of the 29 games he played in, he only made five starts.

Ahead of his senior season, the SEC and national media left him off their preseason all-SEC teams. At SEC Media Day, coach Bruce Pearl and Wiley said it didn’t matter that he wasn’t on the list, although Pearl couldn’t think of 12 players better than Wiley in the league.

On October 17, Pearl spoke on the radio show ‘Tiger Talk’ before Tipoff at Toomer’s and said that he and the team, especially Wiley, were upset Wiley was overlooked.

Even if people outside the program don’t see it, Pearl, Wiley and his teammates think that Wiley is on the verge of a big season. Not only is he healthy, but he’s also moving faster.

Auburn is more concerned about the honors that come after the season, which starts on Tuesday for the Tigers with a game against Georgia Southern.