Hof Tabbed as ACC Most Improved Player
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Emese Hof of the University of Miami women’s basketball team is the ACC Most Improved Player, as announced Wednesday morning by the conference office.
A senior forward/center, Hof is the first player to win the league accolade, which is in its inaugural year.
“I’m so proud of Emese. I think this award is a testament to hard work and, certainly in her case, tremendous perseverance, as she battled through ankle injuries,” Miami head coach Katie Meier said. “I think so much of her improvement this season has been that she’s been a lot healthier. The way she played last season was heroic, based on some of the limitations. I’m really excited for her and I’m really happy that her efforts and approach to recovering from injury are getting rewarded.”
Hof’s individual award comes a day after tallying two other conference plaudits. Tuesday, she was named a First Team All-ACC pick by both the Blue Ribbon Panel and the ACC Coaches, as well as an ACC All-Defensive Team honoree.
The Utrecht, Netherlands, native is the lone player in the league to earn consensus All-ACC accolades, win an individual award and make the all-defensive or all-freshman team.
Hof ranks second in the ACC in blocks per game (2.1), third in field goal percentage (59.3), sixth in rebounding (8.3) and No. 18 in scoring (14.3).
Through 31 games this season, each of which she has started, Hof is tied for fifth in the league with 10 20-point outings and tied for sixth with nine double-doubles.
During her junior campaign in 2017-18, Hof averaged 9.0 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game, while shooting 52.5 percent from the field across 25 starts over 29 appearances. As a sophomore, she posted 6.5 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.0 block per game, while notching a 51.5 percent clip from the floor in three starts over 31 outings.
Hof is the third Hurricanes to win a conference most improved player of the year award. During Miami’s time in the BIG EAST, Kym Hope was the 1997-98 honoree and Frances Savage won the accolade in 1991-92.
The full list of ACC individual award winners—most improved player, player of the year, defensive player of the year, sixth player of the year, freshman of the year and coach of the year—is available HERE.
To keep up with the University of Miami women’s basketball team on social media, follow @CanesWBB on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
