
Murray-Boyles Named All-SEC, Bosmans-Verdonk SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year
South Carolina Athletics
CMB the 32nd player in program history to earn All-SEC honors ; BBV the first player in program history to be named Scholar-Athlete of the Year (award started in 2004)
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Sophomore forward Collin Murray-Boyles was tabbed Second Team All-SEC by the league’s 16 head coaches on Monday as the league office announced its postseason awards. Graduate forward Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk was tabbed the SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year as well.
Murray-Boyles has enjoyed a stellar sophomore campaign, averaging 16.7 points, 8.1 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.4 blocked shots per game. He leads the team in points (518), rebounds (252), steals (45) and blocks (42). Murray-Boyles is second on team in assists (75) behind only senior transfer guard Jamarii Thomas (81).
The Columbia, S.C., native is the 32nd player in program history to earn All-SEC honors since South Carolina joined the conference in 1991-92.
He started all 31 regular season games for the ÈȵãºÚÁÏ, scoring in double-figures 27 times with a career-best 11, 20-point games. His career-best eight double-doubles are T-3rd in the SEC with Texas’ Arthur Kaluma. Murray-Boyles finished the regular season as the SEC’s field goal percentage leader (21st nationally), shooting the ball at an effective 58.5% (192-of-328) clip. Arkansas’ Adou Thiero is second at 54.8% (138-of-252). He is the 14th player in program history since Carolina joined the SEC and the first Gamecock since All-SEC guard AJ Lawson (16.6 ppg in 2020-21) to average at least 16.0 points per game.
Murray-Boyles is the only player in Power Five (ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten and SEC) this season to average at least 16.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.0 blocks and 1.0 steals per game while shooting above 50.0% from the floor. He’s the only player in the SEC since the 2005-06 regular season to have multiple games with 10 or more makes from the floor while shooting above 90.0%. He’s had five games this season with double-digit makes from the floor, third in the SEC behind only Texas’ Tre Johnson (6) and Auburn’s Johni Broome (6).
Murray-Boyles, who was a Preseason All-SEC selection, was named to the 2024-25 Oscar Robertson Trophy Midseason Watch List back in early February.
Since the men’s basketball specific SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year award began in 2004 (voted on by the league’s coaches), Bosmans-Verdonk is the first player in program history to receive the coveted honor. The third-year law student is one of the only players in college basketball in law school. He ranks in the top 8% of his class at the Joseph F. Rice School of Law with four appearances on the Dean’s List (Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024) and one semester on the President’s List (4.0 GPA – Fall 2023). The Lommel, Belgium, native has an impressive 3.733 cumulate GPA during his time in Columbia.
Prior to coming to South Carolina in Lamont Paris’ first season in 2022-23, Bosmans-Verdonk graduated from Illinois in three years with a degree in psychology. He has appeared in 28 games for the ÈȵãºÚÁÏ this season, averaging 1.2 points and 1.7 rebounds per game. He’s played in 76 games with 14 starts in his three seasons in Garnet & Black, averaging 1.8 points and 2.5 rebounds per game. Bosmans-Verdonk has played in three NCAA Tournaments in his collegiate career, twice at Illinois (2021, 2022) and last season at South Carolina (2024) as the team tied the program record for wins in a season with 26.
He will receive his Juris Doctorate in law in May and will take the bar in June with a post-graduate job lined up at Sidley Austin in Chicago where he interned over the summer. Sidley Austin is one of the biggest law firms in the world, doing just under $3 billion in revenue last year.
2024-25 SEC Men’s Basketball Awards
First Team
Johni Broome, Auburn
Walter Clayton Jr., Florida
Mark Sears, Alabama
Wade Taylor IV, Texas A&M
Zakai Zeigler, Tennessee
Second Team
Josh Hubbard, Mississippi State
Tre Johnson, Texas
Chaz Lanier, Tennessee
Collin Murray-Boyles, South Carolina
Otega Oweh, Kentucky
Third Team
Chad Baker-Mazara, Auburn
Alex Condon, Florida
Jason Edwards, Vanderbilt
Mark Mitchell, Missouri
Sean Pedulla, Ole Miss
All-Defensive Team
Denver Jones, Auburn
Jahmai Mashack, Tennessee
Cameron Matthews, Mississippi State
Anthony Robinson II, Missouri
Zakai Zeigler, Tennessee
All-Freshman Team
Jeremiah Fears, Oklahoma
Tre Johnson, Texas
Asa Newell, Georgia
Tahaad Pettiford, Auburn
Labaron Philon, Alabama
Coach of the Year:ÌýBruce Pearl, Auburn
Player of the Year:ÌýJohni Broome, Auburn
Scholar-Athlete of the Year:ÌýBenjamin Bosmans-Verdonk, South Carolina
Newcomer of the Year:ÌýChaz Lanier, Tennessee
Freshman of the Year:ÌýTre Johnson, Texas
Sixth-Man of the Year:ÌýCaleb Grill, Missouri
Defensive Player of the Year: Zakai Zeigler, Tennessee
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