🏀 Kansas Well Represented on All-Big 12 Team
IRVING, Texas – Led by Big 12 Newcomer of the Year Hunter Dickinson, all five Kansas men’s basketball starters are included on the 2024 All-Big 12 Men’s Basketball Awards, the league office announced Sunday. The awards were voted on by the conference coaches and they were not allowed to vote for their own team.
Dickinson and graduate Kevin McCullar Jr. were named members of the All-Big 12 First Team, while junior KJ Adams Jr., redshirt-senior Dajuan Harris Jr. and freshman Johnny Furphy were on the all-conference honorable mention list. Harris was named to the Big 12 All-Defensive Team for the third-consecutive year, while Dickinson was selected to the 2024 Big 12 All-Newcomer Team and Furphy to the 2024 Big 12 All-Freshman Team.
Historically, this marks the fourth time in Big 12 history that a Jayhawk has been named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year. Dickinson joins Malik Newman (2018), Dedric Lawson (2019) and David McCormack (2021). Dickinson is the 17th KU player named to the Big 12-All Newcomer squad. Dating back to the Big Eight Conference era, Dickinson is the 12th KU player to be named his league’s newcomer of the year.
Furphy is the fifth KU player to be named to the Big 12 All-Freshman Team that started in 2019. He joins Devon Dotson (2019), Christian Braun (2020), Adams (2022) and Gradey Dick (2023). The Big 12 All-Defensive Team started in 2006 and Harris marks the 23rd time a Jayhawk has made that five-member squad.
A six-time Big 12 weekly award winner and on most every national player of the year list, Dickinson leads the Big 12 and is eighth nationally in rebounds per game at 10.8. The Alexandria, Virginia, center’s 16 double-doubles lead the Big 12 and are 11th nationally. With an 18.0 ppg, which is second in the Big 12 behind McCullar, Dickinson is the only player in the Big 12 averaging a double-double. He also leads the Big 12 with 14 games of 20-plus points. Dickinson also leads KU with 43 blocked shots and has 29 steals. Dickinson is on his all-conference team for the fourth-consecutive season. He was the Big Ten Freshman and Newcomer of the Year in 2021.
Named to most every national player of the year late watch list, McCullar Jr. leads the Big 12 in scoring at 18.3 points per game. His two triple-doubles are the third most in the NCAA. The San Antonio, Texas, guard is second on the team with 39 three-point field goals made. His 6.0 rebounds per game are also second on the team and McCullar ranks in 11 Big 12 statistical categories. McCullar is an All-Big 12 selection for the fourth straight season, with two at Texas Tech in 2021 and 2022 and two at Kansas in 2023 and 2024.
Adams has led the Big 12 in field goal percentage most of the season at 59.9% yet is two field goals shy of qualifying for the league and national stats. The Austin, Texas, forward is averaging 12.1 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. He has 96 assists in 2023-24, including 34 in his last 11 contests. The 2023 Big 12 Most Improved Player, Adams is on the All-Big 12 team for the second-straight year.
Harris Jr. is second in the Big 12 with 6.4 assists per game, which is 10th nationally, and third in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.0), which is 27th nationally. The Columbia, Missouri, guard averages 8.3 points per contest and has a team-high 48 steals. Besides being a three-time Big 12 All-Defensive Team selection, Harris is also a three-time All-Big 12 honoree.
Furphy (9.0 ppg, 4.6 rpg) averaged 11.4 points and 6.1 rebounds in Big 12 play. The Melbourne, Australia, guard has started in 16 games for KU and leads the team with 40 threes made this season.
In the 28-year history of the Big 12, Kansas has 37 All-Big 12 First Team selections which is more than twice as many as any other school. KU has had a first-team honoree in 25 of the 28 seasons of the league and two on the first team 12 times. Kansas leads the Big 12 with an all-time high 159 student-athletes named to All-Big 12 Men’s Basketball Awards. Texas is second with 120, while Baylor is third with 116 selections.
No. 14 Kansas (22-9, 10-8) will enter the 2024 Big 12 Championship as the No. 6 seed and will play its first game on Wednesday, March 13, at 8:30 p.m. CT (ESPN2) against the winner of the No. 14 West Virginia and No. 11 Cincinnati contest. The WVU-UC game will be played on Tuesday, March 12 at 2 p.m. The Big 12 Championship runs March 12-16 and will be played at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri.
2024 All-Big 12 Men’s Basketball Awards
Player of the Year – Jamal Shead, Houston
Defensive Player of the Year – Jamal Shead, Houston
NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR – HUNTER DICKINSON, KANSAS
Freshman of the Year – Ja’Kobe Walter, Baylor
Sixth Man Award – Jaxson Robinson, BYU
Most Improved Player – Dylan Disu, Texas
Coach of the Year – Kelvin Sampson, Houston
All-Big 12 First Team
Jamal Shead, Houston
Tamin Lipsey, Iowa State
HUNTER DICKINSON, KANSAS
KEVIN MCCULLAR JR., KANSAS
Dylan Disu, Texas
All-Big 12 Second Team
RayJ Dennis, Baylor
L.J. Cryer, Houston
Keshon Gilbert, Iowa State
Emanuel Miller, TCU
Max Abmas, Texas
All-Big 12 Third Team
Jalen Bridges, Baylor
Ja’Kobe Walter, Baylor
J’Wan Roberts, Houston
Pop Isaacs, Texas Tech
Darrion Williams, Texas Tech
All-Big 12 Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically by school)
Langston Love (Baylor), Yves Missi (Baylor), Dallon Hall (BYU), Spencer Johnson (BYU), Jaxson Robinson (BYU), Fousseyni Traore (BYU), Ibrahima Diallo (UCF), Darrius Johnson (UCF), Jaylin Sellers (UCF), Dan Skillings Jr. Cincinnati), Ja’Vier Francis (Houston), Emanuel Sharp (Houston), KJ ADAMS JR. (KANSAS), JOHNNY FURPHY (KANSAS), DAJUAN HARRIS JR. (KANSAS), Arthur Kaluma (K-State), Tylor Perry (K-State), Javian McCollum (Oklahoma), Jalon Moore (Oklahoma), Javon Small (Oklahoma State), Jameer Nelson Jr. (TCU), Micah Peavy (TCU), Joe Toussaint (Texas Tech)
Big 12 All-Defensive Team
Yves Missi, Baylor
John Newmann III, Cincinnati
Jamal Shead, Houston
Tamin Lipsey, Iowa State
DAJUAN HARRIS JR., KANSAS
Big 12 All-Newcomer Team
RayJ Dennis, Baylor
Keshon Gilbert, Iowa State
HUNTER DICKINSON, KANSAS
Max Abmas, Texas
Darrion Williams, Texas Tech
Big 12 All-Freshman Team
Yves Missi, Baylor
Ja’Kobe Walter, Baylor
Joseph Tugler, Houston
Milan Momcilovic, Iowa State
JOHNNY FURPHY, KANSAS
