Duke’s Grayson Allen named All-ACC by league coaches

Duke guard Grayson Allen was voted first-team All-ACC by league coaches on Monday and also became the first Blue Devil to earn a share of the league’s most improved player of the year award. Teammate Brandon Ingram was named to the second team and was also the ACC freshman of the year.

Allen’s 17.1-point scoring improvement from last year is on pace to set a new ACC record for year-to-year scoring increase. He leads the Blue Devils and ranks fifth among major-conference players in scoring with an average of 21.5 points per game. Allen has scored in double figures 29 times in 31 games this season, including 16 20-point games and four games with more than 30 points.

Allen was never held below 15 points in 18 ACC games.

Allen shared the most improved player of the year award with Clemson’s Jaron Blossomgame, who won the award from the media on Sunday.

Ingram is the ninth Duke player to be named ACC freshman of the year, and he is the third in a row after Jabari Parker in 2014 and Jahlil Okafor in 2015. Duke players have won freshman of the year in four of the past five seasons (Austin Rivers won in 2012, and Boston College’s Olivier Hanlan is the non-Duke winner in that span).

Ingram is averaging 16.7 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in 33.9 minutes per game this season. He is shooting 44.4 percent from the floor and 40.0 percent from 3-point range. His scoring average of 16.7 points per game this season is the third-highest among major-conference freshmen.

This story was originally published March 7, 2016 at 2:22 PM with the headline "Duke’s Grayson Allen named All-ACC by league coaches."