Iwundu, Johnson Named to All-Big 12 Teams
Mar 05, 2017 | Men's Basketball
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Senior guard Wesley Iwundu repeated his All-Big 12 Third Team honors, while fellow senior forward D.J. Johnson was selected All-Big 12 Honorable Mention, as the league office announced its annual men’s basketball awards on Sunday.
Big 12 champion Kansas dominated the individual awards, as senior guard Frank Mason III and freshman forward Josh Jackson were unanimous selections as the league’s Player and Freshman of the Year, respectively, while head coach Bill Self was named the league’s Coach of the Year for the fifth time in his career. League runner West Virginia picked up two speciality awards, as junior guard Jevon Carter and senior guard Tarik Phillip were announced as the Defensive Player of the Year and Sixth Man Award winners, respectively.
Baylor junior guard Manu Lecomte was named as the league’s Newcomer of the Year.
The All-Big 12 awards are selected by league’s 10 head coaches, who are not allowed to vote for their own players.
Iwundu, who earned All-Big 12 accolades for the second consecutive season, becomes the 14th Wildcat in school history to earn recognition to the All-Big 12 First, Second or Third Teams. Johnson collects All-Big 12 honors for the first time in his career and becomes the 20th player to receive honorable mention honors.
Iwundu has put together one of the most impressive all-around efforts in recent K-State history, as he leads the team in nine statistical categories, including scoring (12.6 ppg.), double-digit scoring games (23), double-doubles (5), field goals made (132), free throws made (102), free throws attempted (137), rebounding (6.6 rpg.), total rebounds (205) and defensive rebounds (170). He also ranks second in assists (3.4 apg.) and third in steals (1.1 spg.) and minutes (31.4 mpg.). He has led the Wildcats in scoring in scoring a team-best seven times and in rebounding and assists on 15 occasions.
Iwundu is the only Big 12 player to rank in the league’s Top 15 in scoring (15th), field goal percentage (10th), free throw percentage (10th), rebounding (8th) and assists (12th), while he joins West Virginia’s Jevon Carter as the only Big 12 players to rank in the Top 15 in all 5 categories in league-only games.
Iwundu, who earlier this season became the first Wildcat to record 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 300 assists and 100 steals in school history, recently eclipsed the school’s all-time starts list (120) and ranks among the career Top 15 in six other categories, including fourth in assists (351), fifth in steals (119) and minutes (3,602), seventh in games played (128), 14th in rebounding (602) and 15th in scoring (1,185).
The Big 12’s leader in field goal percentage, Johnson proved to be a force in the middle for the Wildcats, averaging 11.4 points on 60.9 percent shooting (131-of-215) with 5.7 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in 25.9 minutes per game. A starter in all 19 wins this season, he led the Wildcats in scoring five times and in rebounding on seven occasions and tallied double-digit points in 18 games. He also tallied a pair of double-doubles and three 20-point contests. Aside from leading the league in shooting, he ranks among the Big 12 leaders in four other categories, including blocked shots (5th), offensive rebounds (11th/2.2 rpg.), free throw percentage (12th/68.6) and rebounding (14th).
Kansas State (19-12, 8-10 Big 12) will be the No. 6 seed in this week’s Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship at the Sprint Center in Kansas City and will play No. 3 seed and No. 11/11 Baylor (25-6, 12-6 Big 12) in the tournament’s quarterfinal round at 8 p.m. CT on Thursday on ESPNU.
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