NORFOLK, Va. – The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference announced Monday that Savannah State University's Jyles Smith was named Men's Basketball Defensive Player of the Week for the week beginning on February 20th.

The sophomore forward from Fairburn, Georgia totaled 13 rebounds, eight blocks and one steal in back-to-back conference wins last week. In Savannah State's 76-57 win over Florida A&M, Saturday, he posted 7 blocked shots, 6 boards, and one steal.

“Last year he showed a lot of what he showed last night (SSU's 67-44 win over Bethune-Cookman) and the previous week,” head coach Horace Broadnax said. “When he anchors our defense, we're a tremendously better basketball program. He had four or five blocks last night. So when he plays inspired on the defensive end it makes us a better ball club.  Some nights he doesn't come out with as much excitement or energy, but when he does it makes us better.”

 Smith leads the team in blocked shots with 56, and averages 4.0 rebounds and 4.4 points a game. He is ranked sixth in the MEAC in blocked shots averaging two a game. In Monday night's win over Bethune-Cookman, Smith scored 10 points, grabbed 7 boards and blocked 6 shots.

“It felt good when I found out,” Smith said. “I just got happy, being rewarded for being a defensive player, which is all I like to do. Every game I set out to play defense, I want to stop my man, get rebounds and help my team in some kind of way. Ever since I started playing, I've been the big guy in the middle, trying to protect the goal. Over the years, I've just got better and better at it. I pride myself on getting blocks and rebounds, it gets me going. Every time I get a block it gets my team pumped, and helps us win.”

The Tigers are ranked first in the MEAC in rebounding defensive, averaging 31.4 defensive rebounds a game.  They are also ranked first in scoring defense with 59.8 points a game. Smith is fourth on his team in rebounds, with 114 overall.

“Two things that we talk about, as far as protecting the paint is protecting off the dribble, and we want to protect the paint with defensive rebounding,” Broadnax said.  “Basically we don't want the other team to get a second shot. When Jyles is blocking shots that is an added bonus.  If we can protect by charging, and rebounding, then add blocking shots it's a psychological advantage for us. People trying to get to the paint will say here's a shot blocker so they have to know where he's at. It might throw them off their game a little bit.”

Savannah State is competing in the MEAC for the first year, and currently leads the conference with an 18-10, 11-2 record. This is the first conference accolade awarded to a Savannah State men's basketball player.  The Tigers have three games, all conference, left in the regular season, before heading to Winston-Salem, North Carolina for the MEAC Championships, March 5^th.

“It's great being in the MEAC, because we get the opportunity to get rewarded for the efforts,” Braodnax said. “That's where a lot of our excitement and energy is coming from. It adds meaning to playing the game of basketball. And the guys are really buying into that. This adds a feather to our cap and it will show other guys that if they work hard and contribute at a high level they can be rewarded.”