Kansas’ Jalen Wilson was the unanimous selection as Player of the Year, while Kansas State’s Jerome Tang was named Coach of the Year in his senior season to highlight the 66th Phillips Big 12 Men’s Basketball 2022-23 Awards, chosen by the head coaches. The Jayhawks collected two more individual accolades as Dajuan Harris Jr. was voted the runner-up. Defensive Player of the Year while KJ Adams Jr. was named the Defensive Player of the Year. On the best player has been improved. The Wildcats’ Keyontae Johnson was the unanimous selection as Freshman of the Year, Baylor’s Keyonte George was named Freshman of the Year, and Texas’ Sir’Jabari Rice was named Sixth Man.
Wilson leads the Big 12 in both scoring (19.7 ppg), rebounding (8.4 rpg) and double-doubles (10) while ranking second in minutes scored (35.2). The young forward is vying to become the seventh player, fourth Jayhawk, in Big 12 history to lead the league in both scoring and rebounding. Wilson has had two 30-point performances and 17 20-plus-point games this season. His 38 points at K-State on January 17 was the most in a conference game this year. He is a finalist for the John R. Wooden Award and the Oscar Robertson Trophy. Also, Wilson was a unanimous selection to the All-Big 12 First Team, and he joined Baylor’s first team Adam Flagler, also a consensus pick, K-State’s Johnson and Markquis Nowell along with Texas’ Marcus Carr.
Known for his instinct on defense, Harris also directs KU’s offense from his position as guard. The junior guard leads the conference in assists/turnover ratio (3.4), is second in assists (6.3), fourth in steals (2.0) and fifth in minutes played (34.0). He contributes an average of 8.6 points and 2.5 rebounds.
Johnson made a triumphant return to the basketball court on November 7 in K-State’s season opener against UTRGV after a two-year absence following a medical emergency against Florida State on December 12, 2020. He was named Big 12 Newcomer of the Week and Big 12 Newcomer of the Week after the Wildcats’ first two games. The senior forward has racked up five conference rookie awards this season as he is second in the league in scoring (17.8), tied for fourth in rebounding (7.0), second in field goal percentage (. 519) and fourth in double-doubles (6). ). Finalist for the John R. Woden.
George entered the season as a Big 12 pre-season freshman. He is sixth in the league in scoring (16.0), fifth in 3-point field goals (2.4) and sixth in free throw percentage (. 794). George holds the program record for most 20-point games by a freshman (12) and his 16.0-point average is sixth best among all NCAA rookies. The sentinel collected two Big 12 Newcomer of the Week awards.
As the first player off the bench for the Longhorns, Rice is second on the team in scoring (12.6), fourth in assists (63) and minutes (24.2), and tied for fourth in rebounding (3.5). The senior guard has reached double figures 20 times this season and ranks second in the Big 12 in free throw percentage (. 870). He earned Big 12 Newcomer of the Week honors on February 6 after helping UT beat No. 11 Baylor and No. 1 Baylor. 7 K-State. He scored a team-high 23 points to lead Texas over No. 3 Kansas at the end of the regular season.
Adams started every game in 2022-23 after making one start as a freshman last year during the KU National Championship. He improved his averages to 10.5 points and 4.5 rebounds in 27.2 minutes by scoring 1.0 points and 0.8 boards in 4.8 minutes as a junior. He has scored in double figures in 17 games this season after not reaching double figures in his first seven competitions.
Tang was last selected in the preseason Big 12 poll, and led Kansas State to a tie for third with an 11-7 conference mark and current 23-8 overall record in his first season as a college coach. The 23-8 start is the best by any first-year coach in NCAA Division I and second-best in K-State history. The Wildcats are 7-4 against top 25 opponents this season, including 3-2 against top 10 opponents. Tang inherited a team of only two starting returning players and brought in 13 new players.
The Big 12 teams will begin postseason play with the Phillips 66 Big 12 Men’s Basketball Tournament March 8-11 at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.
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