WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - William and Mary redshirt junior Kyle Gaillard was named the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) men's basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year, the league announced on Tuesday. Gaillard becomes the fourth W&M player under head coach Tony Shaver to win the honor, joining Adam Hess '04, David Schneider '10 and Quinn McDowell '12. Gaillard and men's swimming junior Andrew Strait were two of the five winter sport CAA Scholar-Athletes of the Year recognized on Tuesday by the league and gave W&M four overall for year after women's soccer senior Mallory Schaffer and men's cross country senior Alex McGrath won the honor in the fall.

“It is a great honor to have our student-athletes recognized in this capacity, and I am thrilled for Kyle,” Shaver said. “He worked incredibly hard to come back after missing last season, and it did not come at the expense of his academics. That is a real testament to his work ethic and character. It was great to have Kyle back in the lineup, making an impact on the court and we are excited to see what is in store for his senior season.”

The conference honors one Scholar-Athlete in each of its 23 championship sports. Nominees for the award must be a starter or important reserve on their team and must have a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.25. The winners were selected by a vote of the media relations directors at each CAA institution.

Gaillard, a business finance major, was a one of five players in the league to be named to the CAA All-Academic First Team this season. A team captain in 2012-13, he started 28 of the Tribe's 30 games and ranked fourth on the team in scoring at 8.5 points per game, while coming in second on the team and 18th in the CAA in rebounding at 5.3 per contest. Gaillard shot 54.2 percent (97-of-179) from the floor and 36.5 percent (22-of-63) from 3-point range. He was also third on the team in assists per game at 2.1.

On Nov. 28, 2012 at Richmond, Gaillard scored a season-high 16 points and became just the ninth player in W&M history and the first since 2004 to shoot 100 percent from the floor, while attempting seven or more field goals in a game. He scored in double digits on 15 occasions this season and registered his first career double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds at Radford on Dec. 8, 2012.

After winning 13 games in 2012-13, including seven in CAA play, the Tribe returns its top four scorers from a team that produced the sixth-best point total in school history. In all, W&M returns 91.7 percent of its scoring (1892 of 2064), 84.8 percent of its rebounding (847 of 999), 79.9 percent of its assists (342 of 428), 84.3 percent of its 3-pointers made (188 of 223), 79.2 percent of its steals (122 of 154) and 97.8 percent of its blocked shots (89 of 91) from this season. Tribe returnees accounted for 84.4 percent of minutes played (5191 of 6150) in 2012-13, including 80 percent of its starts (120 of 150).