Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

McCabe named Mr. Basketball

- JR Radcliffe

The Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Associatio­n announced its Mr. Basketball winner Friday morning, bestowing the award to Kaukauna senior point guard Jordan McCabe.

McCabe helped lead the Galloping Ghosts to the the WIAA Division 2 state title game later in the day with a 75-63 semifinal victory over Westosha Central at the Kohl Center. He scored 20 points against the Falcons.

During the season the playmaking guard averaged more than 26 points per game, with six rebounds, eight assists and two steals per contest. Next season he’ll become the first Wisconsin recruit to play at West Virginia.

The award is notable this year because of the heated competitio­n for the honor. Whitnall’s Tyler Herro and Oshkosh North’s Tyrese Haliburton were top alternate candidates for the prize.

Herro, who cleared 2,000 career points in the final stretch of his illustriou­s career, is headed to Kentucky. He averaged more than 30 points per game this season for Whitnall (20-5), with close to eight rebounds and four assists per game.

Haliburton, who averaged 23 points, five rebounds and three steals per game, is headed to Iowa State next season and was the leader of perhaps the state’s best team — though Kaukauna also has an argument. North (25-1) split with Kaukauna in the regular season, falling by a 94-89 score Jan. 9 and winning the rematch Feb. 16, 88-67.

North beat Sussex Hamilton in a Division 1 semifinal Friday night. Both Oshkosh North and Kaukauna hold the top seed in their respective divisions.

Whitnall was defeated in the playoffs by Pewaukee, led by a huge night from big man Grant Basile, a Wright State commit who would have been a Mr. Basketball candidate in another year. Basile averaged 25 points per game.

The Mr. Basketball Award has been shared by two players three times (2007, 2015, 2016), most recently when Stevens Point teammates Sam Hauser and Trev Anderson shared it two years ago, and Diamond Stone of Dominican and Henry Ellenson of Rice Lake shared the honor the year before that. It has never been shared among three players.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States