WASHINGTON — After leading Saint Louis to a share of the Atlantic 10 Regular Season title and the top seed in the upcoming Betterment A-10 Men’s Basketball Championship, Billikens senior Robbie Avila has been named the A-10 Men’s Basketball Player of the Year. Saint Joseph’s head coach Steve Donahue was selected as the Coach of the Year, while VCU freshman Nyk Lewis earned the A-10 Rookie of the Year.
VCU sophomore Terrence Hill Jr. took home not one, but two superlative awards – coming away with the Sixth Man of the Year and Chris Daniels Most Improved Player awards. Rhode Island’s Tyler Cochran and Saint Joseph’s’ Justice Ajogbor shared the Defensive Player of the Year accolade, rounding out the six major A-10 men’s basketball awards.
The six superlative accolades, the three six-member All-Conference teams, and the All-Defensive and All-Rookie teams were nominated and voted on by the league’s 14 head coaches. The men’s basketball communications directors selected the five-member All-Academic team.
Avila, a 6-10 center from Oak Forest, Ill., led Saint Louis to a 27-4 overall record, going 15-3 in conference play. Averaging 12.6 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 4.1 assists per game during his senior campaign while shooting 50.6 percent from the field and 42.3 percent from 3-point range, Avila anchored the Billikens on both ends of the floor. He opened the season with 18 points and 11 rebounds against Southeastern State, helping Saint Louis win 24 of its first 25 games in a historically great for the program. Avila scored a season-high 23 points in a 91-76 win over Duquesne on Feb. 28, adding seven rebounds and seven assists while knocking down five 3-pointers.
Hill stepped into a much more significant role for the Rams this season, after averaging 3.4 points and 6.1 minutes per game as a freshman. The 6-3 combo guard from Portland, Ore. leads VCU in 2025-26 with 14.1 points per game, adding 2.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game while shooting 47.0 percent from the floor, 38.0 percent from behind the arc, and 87.3 percent at the charity stripe. He scored a career-high 24 points against Loyola Chicago, recording six rebounds and five assists as well.
While Hill shined in his second-year leap, VCU teammate Lewis made a quick impression as well in his rookie campaign. The 6-1 guard from Washington, D.C. averaged 8.5 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per contest, knocking down 40 shots from behind the arc. A four-time A-10 Rookie of the Week selection, Lewis poured in a career-high 19 points against Utah State and recorded his first career double-double in a 12-point, 12-rebound performance against Niagara.
Two of the strongest defenders in the league, both Cochran and Ajogbor disrupted opposing offenses with their tenacity and discipline at that end of the floor. After winning 2024 MAC Co-Defensive Player of the Year award while at Toledo, Cochran – a 6-4 guard from Boilingbrook, Ill. – led Rhode Island and the A-10 with 2.7 steals per game this season, adding 6.1 rebounds per game as well. Ajogbor, a 6-10 center from Benin City, Nigeria ranked second in the league with 2.4 blocks per game for Saint Joseph’s, including a six-block game against VCU.
After his promotion to Saint Joseph’s head coaching position less than two months prior to the first game of the 2025-26 season, Donahue has navigated the Hawks to a one of the program’s strongest regular season campaigns in years. Producing a 21-10 overall record with a 13-5 mark in league play, Saint Joseph’s enters the Betterment Atlantic 10 Men’s Basketball Championship as the No. 3 seed – the team’s highest seed since 2005.
Avila and Hill both made the All-Conference First Team, joined by Dayton’s Javon Bennett, Duquesne’s Tarence Guinyard, Saint Joseph’s’ Derek Simpson, and VCU’s Lazar Djokovic.
2025-26 Atlantic 10 Men’s Basketball Awards
Player of the Year: Robbie Avila, Saint Louis
Co-Defensive Player of the Year: Tyler Cochran, Rhode Island / Justice Ajogbor, Saint Joseph’s
Rookie of the Year: Nyk Lewis, VCU
Chris Daniels Most Improved Player: Terrence Hill, Jr., VCU
Sixth Man of the Year: Terrence Hill, Jr., VCU
Coach of the Year: Steve Donahue, Saint Joseph’s
All-Conference First Team
Javon Bennett, Dayton
Tarence Guinyard, Duquesne
Derek Simpson, Saint Joseph's
Robbie Avila, Saint Louis
Lazar Djokovic, VCU
Terrence Hill, Jr., VCU
All-Conference Second Team
DeJour Reaves, Fordham
Riley Allenspach, George Mason
Kory Mincy, George Mason
Rafael Castro, George Washington
Tyler Cochran, Rhode Island
Jaiden Glover-Toscano, Saint Joseph’s
All-Conference Third Team
De’Shayne Montgomery, Dayton
Jimmie Williams, Duquesne
Frank Mitchell, St. Bonaventure
Trey Green, Saint Louis
Amari McCottry, Saint Louis
Kellen Thames, Saint Louis
All-Defensive Team
Rafael Castro, George Washington
Tyler Cochran, Rhode Island
Justice Ajogbor, Saint Joseph's
Dion Brown, Saint Louis
Brandon Jennings, VCU
All-Rookie Team
Devin Brown, Davidson
Ashton Walker, La Salle
Aiden Argabright, Richmond
Austin Williford, SJU
Nyk Lewis, VCU
All-Academic Team
DeJour Reaves, Fordham
Miles Rubin, Loyola Chicago
Tyler Cochran, Rhode Island
Justice Ajogbor, Saint Joseph's
Ishan Sharma, Saint Louis