UAB basketball star Yaxel Lendeborg is the American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year for the second straight season, it was announced Tuesday.

Lendeborg, a 6-foot-9 senior from Pennsauken, N.J., leads the Blazers in all five major individual categories this season — scoring (17.1 points per game), rebounding (10.5), assists (4.1), blocks (1.8) and steals (1.6). He was also a unanimous choice for the All-AAC first team.

Lendeborg surpassed the 1,000-point and 300-rebound mark in his career earlier this year, becoming the first Blazer to reach the latter milestone in just two seasons. He is also a finalist for the Karl Malone Award, given annually to the top power forward in college basketball.

UAB guard Alejandro Vasquez earned a spot on the All-AAC second team. The 6-4 senior from Queens, N.Y., averages 11.5 points per game overall, including 12.3 in conference play.

Memphis guard PJ Haggerty was named AAC Player of the Year. Tigers coach Penny Hardaway won the Coach of the Year Award, sharing it in honorary fashion with South Florida’s Amir Abdur-Rahim, who died suddenly last October.

UAB (20-11) is the No. 3 seed for the AAC tournament this week in Fort Worth, Texas. The Blazers will face either No. 6 East Carolina or No. 11 UT-San Antonio in a quarterfinal game at 8 p.m. Friday, with live coverage on ESPNU.

Here are the complete 2024-25 AAC men’s basketball individual awards and all-conference teams:

Individual awards

Player of the Year: PJ Haggerty, G, Memphis

Coach of the Year: Penny Hardaway, Memphis

Coach of the Year (honorary): Amir Abdur-Rahim, South Florida

Newcomer of the Year: Dain Dainja, F, Memphis

Defensive Player of the Year: Yaxel Lendeborg, F, UAB

Freshman of the Year: Matas Vokietaitis, C, Florida Atlantic

Amir Abdur-Rahim Sportsmanship Award: Tre Carroll, F, Florida Atlantic

Most Improved Players: Tre Carroll, F, Florida Atlantic & Moulaye Sissoko, F, North Texas

Sixth Man of the Year: Brenen Lorient, F, North Texas

First-team All-AAC

Yaxel Lendeborg, F, UAB*

RJ Felton, G, East Carolina*

C.J. Walker, F, East Carolina

Dain Dainja, F, Memphis*

PJ Haggerty, G, Memphis*

Tyrese Hunter, G, Memphis

Brenen Lorient, F, North Texas*

Rowan Brumbaugh, G, Tulane

Xavier Bell, G, Wichita State

Second-team All-AAC

Alejandro Vasquez, G, UAB

Tre Carroll, F, Florida Atlantic

Kaleb Glenn, F, Florida Atlantic

Baba Miller, F, Florida Atlantic

Jamille Reynolds, F, South Florida

Jamal Mashburn Jr., G, Temple

Primo Spears, G, UT-San Antonio

Kaleb Banks, F, Tulane

Dwon Odom, G, Tulsa

Corey Washington, F, Wichita State

All-Newcomer Team

Dain Dainja, F, Memphis*

Tyrese Hunter, G, Memphis

Atin Wright, G, North Texas

Jamal Mashburn Jr., G, Temple

Rowan Brumbaugh, G, Tulane

All-Freshman Team

Matas Vokietaitis, C, Florida Atlantic*

CJ Brown, G, South Florida*

Aiden Tobiason, G, Temple

Kam Williams, G/F, Tulane*

Ian Smikle, F, Tulsa

*—unanimous selection