Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones is the Newcomer of the Year and Jordan Graves has been selected as the Defender of the Year as a part of the All-Pacific West Conference Men's Basketball Team, selected by the conference's coaches today.

Tait-Jones and Graves were also named to the PacWest All-Hawaii Pod team, along with Darren Williams and Sasa Vuksanovic, Tait-Jones and Graves' specific honors were for the entire conference, joining Point Loma's Kaden Anderson (Player of the Year) and Biola's Dave Holmquist (Coach of the Year).

The Vulcans finished 10-2 in 2020-21, winning the Hawaii Pod and made a run for NCAA postseason play. That foursome played a major role in that success for first-year head coach Kaniela Aiona.

"These four men will get the awards and recognition and they deserve it," Aiona said. "I also know that they are great teammates and will recognize they could not have done it without their team. We are proud of them and our entire team."

Tait-Jones, a freshman from New Zealand was the PacWest coaches pick for Newcomer of the Year, The 6-foot-6 forward led the Vulcans in scoring at 16.5 points per game and was second in rebounds with 8.5. He shot 50 percent from the field and paced UHH in blocked shots with 14. He had a season-best 26 points against Hawaii Pacific, just a few days after pulling down a 18 rebounds against Chaminade.

"Aniwa had a fantastic freshman season," Aiona said. "He was a matchup problem and showed the ability to take over games on both ends of the court. He has a very bright future here at UH Hilo."

Graves has been known around the PacWest for parts of three seasons as a glove and ball hawk on defense. This year, he had 22 steals, including five in the first half of a game against Chaminade. Two years ago, in his last full season, he was second in the conference in thefts with 60. He was averaging over two steals per contest last year before an injury ended his season.

"Jordan was a great defensive presence for us," Aiona added. "He was able to dominate several defensive matchups this season and was one of the toughest guys to score on in the conference."

Williams, a transfer from Chaffey College, averaged 14.4 points a contest and led the Vulcans in three-pointers made (26), free throw percentage (83%), steals (25) and assists (37). The 5-foot-8 guard had a career-high 23 points in the season opener against Hawaii Pacific, and finished the season with back-to-back 21 point games against Chaminade to earn PacWest Player of the Week honors.

"Darren was a catalyst for this year's team," Aiona declared. "He was our floor general and he showed he can consistently score, distrute and defend at a high level."

Vuksanovic had another productive season as one of the most versatile big men in the conference. The 6-10 Serbian averaged 15.8 points a game and had a team-best 9.6 boards per contest. He had seven double-doubles in 12 games, with a year-best of 20 points twice and 13 rebounds. He shot 52 percent from the floor, had 19 assists and nine blocked shots.

"Sasa was a consistent contributor and nearly averaged a double-double per game for us," Aiona assessed. "He gave us a presence inside that our opponents had to adjust to."

Tait-Jones is only the second player from the Vulcan program to ever earn PacWest Newcomer of the Year, the other being Salim Gloyd in 2015-16. The Vulcans have never had a PacWest Defender of the Year. Their only other special award since being in the PacWest was when Skip Esene was named Player of the Year in 2004-05.