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Miami Hurricanes guard Chris Lykes has been named to the preseason All-Atlantic Coast Conference second-team. Lykes is just the fourth player in program history to receive preseason conference honors.
Out of every player in the conference—widely regarded as the nation’s toughest from top to bottom—Lykes finished eighth overall in ballot points. He is the first UM player to earn any preseason accolades since Bruce Brown before the 2017-18 season.
We Lykes this. pic.twitter.com/8k63ACTdvS
— Canes Hoops (@CanesHoops) October 10, 2019
Lykes finished 10th in scoring a season ago in the ACC, averaging 16.2 points per game, which is second among returning players only behind Louisville’s Jordan Nwora, who was named the conference’s preseason player of the year.
Miami opens the season on November 5 against Nwora’s Cardinals.
At just 5-7, the Mitchellville, MD native is a two-time Academic All-ACC selection, and started in all 32 games a season ago.
Nwora (Louisville), Tre Jones (Duke), Cole Anthony (North Carolina), John Mooney (Notre Dame), and Mamadi Diakite (Virginia) made up the conference’s first-team selections.
Lykes joins NC State’s Markell Johnson, Duke’s Vernon Carey, North Carolina’s Garrison Brooks, and Florida State’s Trent Forrest on the second-team.
The Canes were picked to finish ninth in the conference in 2019-20, one spot behind Syracuse and a spot in front of Pitt. Miami finished 12th in the ACC regular season standings a season ago.