Dream comes true as USC’s Thornwell wins award

The dream came true.

South Carolina senior Sindarius Thornwell was named SEC Player of the Year on Tuesday, completing a season where he finished second in the league in scoring, sixth in rebounding, third in minutes played and first in steals. Thornwell said before the season it was a dream of his to be named Player of the Year. The league’s coaches made it a reality, recognizing his standout season.

“I remember going to SEC Media Day, when it came out, me and Duane (Notice) were sitting on the plane talking about it,” Thornwell said. “We’re both 1,000-point scorers, both had pretty good careers, and we didn’t make either (preseason All-SEC) team.

“It just motivated us to work harder.”

Thornwell is the first player in USC history to win SEC Player of the Year and the second to win conference player of the year (John Roche won the ACC’s top honor in 1969 and 1970). South Carolina also became the fourth school in SEC history to boast the SEC men’s and women’s players of the year in the same season (USC’s A’ja Wilson won her second consecutive POY prize last week).

The senior, who served a six-game suspension concluding the non-conference season, led the Gamecocks in scoring, rebounds, steals and minutes played while placing second in assists and blocks. The 6-foot-5 guard was always matched up with the opponent’s best player and was all over the floor for USC, playing every spot but center.

“Those are the people he competes against. Those aren’t people’s opinions,” coach Frank Martin said. “They respect the fact that he plays the game the right way. Obviously, Sindarius earned the respect of those coaches.”

Thornwell was also named first-team All-SEC – becoming just the seventh Gamecock to earn the distinction (Devan Downey did it three times, BJ McKie twice) – and to the SEC’s All-Defensive team for the second year in a row.

Thornwell scored 30.2 percent of the Gamecocks’ points in SEC play and notched his name in the SEC record book when he attempted 33 free throws in a four-overtime loss to Alabama. He topped the record held by Pete Maravich and is second behind Maravich for made free throws in a game (25).

In his career, Thornwell has been named to the All-Freshman team and is a three-time member of the league’s honor roll.

Thornwell was the only Gamecock honored in the All-SEC awards.

In The Associated Press honors, Thornwell was edged out for SEC Player of the Year by Kentucky freshman Malik Monk, but both were unanimous choices to the All-SEC first team.

The Gamecocks begin the SEC Tournament at approximately 3:30 p.m. on Friday against an opponent to be determined.

This story was originally published March 7, 2017 at 12:03 PM with the headline "Dream comes true as USC’s Thornwell wins award."