BIG 12 NOTES Griner, Texas star get honors
DALLAS — To the surprise of no one, Baylor center Brittney Griner was named the Big 12’s player of the year and Texas post Imani McGeeStafford is its freshman of the year, the conference announced Thursday.
McGee-Stafford has been named Big 12 freshman of the week six times. The 6-7 post ranks second among Big 12 freshmen in scoring (11 ppg.) and is first in rebounding (9.3) and blocked shots (73). She set a UT freshman record for blocks in a season in Tuesday’s victory over West Virginia.
McGee-Stafford also is on the conference’s AllFreshman team and is on the honorable mention list for all-conference. Joining her as honorable mention selections from Texas were junior guard Chassidy Fussell and sophomore forward Nneka Enemkpali.
The following were also honored on Thursday: Baylor’s Kim Mulkey, coach of the year; Oklahoma’s Portia Durrett and Texas Tech’s Jackie Patterson, co-newcomers of the year; Baylor’s Destiny Williams, sixth man award; and Kansas State’s Brittany Chambers, scholar-athlete of the year.
What’s in a number? Baylor has three numbers it wants to extend this month — 55 consecutive home victories, a winning streak of 27 games, and 46 straight conference wins. The average margin of victory during those conference victories is 25 points.
The Lady Bears are 1034 since the start of the 2010-11 season.
Etc.: Texas Tech senior guard Monique Smalls recently broke a school record by starting her 129th straight game. She has since extended that mark to 133. ... TCU freshman Kamy Cole, a three-time MVP of the UIL state tournament (Brock), has posted double figures in scoring 15 times for the Horned Frogs. ... Iowa State has reached 20 victories for the 12th time in coach Bill Fennelly’s 18 years with the team. ... Texas finished the season with three straight victories at home, beating Kansas, TCU and WVU. ... Since the Big 12 started in 1996, the conference has a non-conference record of 2,014-667 (.751).
Did you know?: Every Big 12 team finished with a winning non-conference record — for the sixth straight year.