🏀 Agbaji Named a Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Finalist
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Kansas senior Ochai Agbaji has been named one of five finalists for the 2022 Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced Tuesday.
Joining Agbaji as finalists are Bennedict Mathurin (Arizona), Jaden Ivey (Purdue), Johnny Juzang (UCLA) and Johnny Davis (Wisconsin). This is the eighth year of the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award.
A national player of the year candidate, Agbaji leads the Big 12 in scoring at 20.4 points per game, which is 15th nationally. He is second in the Big 12 and 11th nationally in three-point field goal percentage at 43.3%. Agbaji has scored 20 or more points in a league-high 16 games this season and has averaged 24.3 ppg in his last three outings.
Agbaji has been named Big 12 Player of the Week four times this season. The Kansas City, Missouri, guard is a two-time Academic All-Big 12 selection who ranks 26th on the KU all-time list with 1,471 career points and seventh with 228 three-point field goals made.
A national committee of top college basketball personnel determined the watch list of 20 candidates in November, which was narrowed to 10 candidates in late January and now the five finalists. This month, the finalists will be presented to Mr. West and the Hall of Fame’s selection committee. The winner of the 2022 Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award will be determined by a combination of fan votes and input from the Basketball Hall of Fame’s selection committee. Naismith Starting Five presented by Dell Technologies will go live Friday, March 4 on hoophallawards.com.
No. 6 Kansas (23-5, 12-3) will play at TCU (18-9, 7-8) tonight at 7 p.m. (Central). The contest will be televised on Big 12 NOW on ESPN+.
