Big 12 men’s hoops awards

Ochai Agbaji was the unanimous selection in earning Kansas’ 11th Big 12 Player of the Year honor while Baylor’s Scott Drew collected his thirdconsecutive Big 12 Coach of the Year accolade in the 2021-22 Phillips 66 All-Big 12 men’s basketball awards, chosen by the head coaches.

For the first time in Conference history, three players tied for Defensive Player of the Year as Baylor’s Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua, Oklahoma State’s Moussa Cisse and West Virginia’s Gabe Osabuohien shared the honor. Iowa State claimed first-year awards as Izaiah Brockington picked up Newcomer of the Year and Tyrese Hunter claimed Freshman of the Year. Kansas State’s Nijel Pack was voted as Most Improved Player while BU’s Jeremy Sochan was recognized with the Sixth Man Award.

The All-Big 12 First Team consisted of Agbaji, Brockington and Pack in addition to the Bears’ James Akinjo and Texas Tech’s Bryson Williams. Agbaji and Williams were unanimous selections.

Agbaji was the league’s leading scorer in overall (19.8 points per game) and conference games (19.65 PPG). He was third in all games in field goal percentage (.477/208-436), second in 3-point field goal percentage (.411/86209), second in 3-pointers made per game (2.87) and seventh in free throw percentage (.767/92-120). The senior guard averaged more minutes per game (35.2) than any other Big 12 player and led the Conference with 17 20-point games. Agbaji was a fourtime Big 12 Player of the Week this season.

Drew has guided Baylor to a second-consecutive Big 12 regular season title, sharing this year’s crown with Kansas after both finished with 14-4 league records. The Bears are 26-5 overall and ranked No. 3 nationally in the AP Poll heading into the Phillips 66 Big 12 Men’s Basketball Championship.