Duquesne's Dae Dae Grant, Jimmy Clark III earn Atlantic-10 honors

Duquesne senior guards Dae Dae Grant and Jimmy Clark III were named Tuesday to the All-Atlantic 10 second team by a vote of the conference’s 15 head basketball coaches.

Clark, who leads the league in steals (74), also earned a spot on the All-A-10 Defensive Team for a second consecutive season.

Dayton junior forward DaRon Holmes II and Richmond fifth-year guard Jordan King were named co-Players of the Year — the third time the award has been shared — while Holmes was selected as Defensive Player of the Year.

Saint Joseph’s Xzayvier Brown was named Rookie of the Year, Dayton’s Koby Brea received Sixth Man of the Year and Massachusetts’ Rahsool Diggins and Richmond’s Dji Bailey were honored with the Chris Daniels Most Improved Player Award.

Richmond’s Chris Mooney, the school’s all-time winningest coach, garnered Coach of the Year honors after leading the Spiders to their first A-10 regular-season championship. Richmond was picked to finish 11th in a preseason poll.

Clark, the only Duquesne player to start all 31 games this season, is averaging 15.1 points, 3.2 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.4 steals per game while shooting 42.2%. He joined Damian Saunders (2007-11) as the only Duquesne players to earn defensive honors in multiple seasons.

Grant, who leads the Dukes in scoring (16.7 ppg) and has totaled 2,150 points combined at Duquesne and Miami (Ohio), is the first Duquesne player to record three 30-point games in a season since Aaron Jackson in 2008-09.

Grant also ranks second in Division I in free-throw percentage (95.7), having converted 132 of 138 attempts. He holds the school record with 46 in a row after first breaking the old mark of 42 by Dave Ricketts (1954-57) with a streak of 43.

Besides Clark and Grant, others named to the second team were George Mason’s Keyshawn Hall, Loyola Chicago’s Des Watson, Richmond’s Neal Quinn and St. Bonaventure’s Chad Venning.

Clark and Holmes were joined on the All-Defensive Team by Fordham’s Kyle Rose, George Washington’s Babtunde Akingbola and Loyola Chicago’s Miles Rubin.

In addition to Holmes and King being voted to the first team, others were Josh Cohen and Matt Cross of Massachusetts, Erik Reynolds II of Saint Joseph’s and Max Shulga of VCU.

Cohen also won Northeast Conference co-Player of the Year in 2022-23 while at Saint Francis.

The third team was comprised of Pitt transfer Nate Santos of Dayton, George Washington’s James Bishop IV, La Salle’s Jhamir Brickus; Loyola Chicago’s Philip Alston and Braden Norris, and Saint Louis’ Gibson Jimerson.

Santos, Norris, King, Jimerson and Davidson’s Connor Kochera made up the All-Academic Team.

Besides Rubin, other All-Rookie Team honorees were George Mason’s Baraka Okojie, George Washington’s Darren Buchanan Jr. and Massachusetts’ Jaylen Curry.