Tyree Appleby Named First Team All-ACC

Mar 6, 2023 - 10:45 PM

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Wake Forest senior guard Tyree Appleby has been named First Team All-ACC for his stellar play this season.

Appleby finished the regular season leading the ACC in both scoring and assists, averaging 18.8 points and 6.3 assists per game. While those stats technically will still include the upcoming ACC Tournament, Appleby should be far enough ahead in both to officially become the first player in ACC history to lead the conference in both categories.

Appleby was clearly the best player on the court for Wake Forest in almost every game this season. He scored in double figures in all but 2 of Wake’s 31 games in the regular season and hit 20+ points 12 times, including a season high 35 in a win over UNC. He also dished out 5 or more assists 24 times this season. Appleby finished the regular season with 20 games of 15 or more points and 5 or more assists, which was the most such games by any major conference player this season—only 10 major conference players have had more games of 15 and 5 in a season than Appleby in the last 10 years (courtesy of SportsReference).

Because of his importance and impact on the team, Appleby played a ridiculous number of minutes, averaging 36.5 minutes per game—that’s 16th in the nation and made him 1 of 34 players in all of Division-I basketball averaging over 36 minutes per game. While there were times he maybe tried to do a little too much, Appleby always gave 110% effort on every play and was a big part of Wake Forest getting to double digit ACC wins for the second straight season.

Despite (potentially) making history in the conference, Appleby came in second place in ACC Player of the Year voting to Miami’s Isaiah Wong by 7 votes. While there is definitely a debate that can be had about a player having a historic season not winning the award, it is understandable that Wong would get the nod after averaging 15.9 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per game on a team that won the ACC regular season and finished 24-6 overall. Wong is a great player and certainly deserving of the award, but don’t let that stop you from arguing for our guy on the internet if you so choose.

Congrats to Appleby and Go Deacs!