Kansas’ Embiid and Wiggins Named USBWA All-District
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas freshmen Joel Embiid and Andrew Wiggins have been named to the 2013-14 All-District VI team, the U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) announced Tuesday.
A total of nine all-district teams were announced with 10 student-athletes named to each team as voted on by the USBWA’s 900 members. District VI includes NCAA Division I schools in the states of Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.
The 2014 Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, Embiid broke the KU freshman record for blocked shots with 72 and his 2.6 blocked shots per game are second in the league. Named to the 2014 All-Big 12 Second Team, Embiid leads KU with 8.1 rebounds per game, good for sixth in the Big 12. The Yaoundé, Cameroon, center is shooting 62.6 percent from the field and averaging 11.2 points per game. Additionally, Embiid is a Wayman Tisdale Award finalist for the most outstanding freshman by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) and one of 30 listed as a Naismith Men’s College Player of the Year Award candidate.
Embiid, who will not play in the upcoming Big 12 Championship and likely not in the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament due to a back injury, was a two-time Big 12 Newcomer of the Week – Dec. 2, 2013 and Jan. 20, 2014 – and was named Wayman Tisdale National Freshman of the Week and CBSSports.com National Player of the Week on Jan. 21, 2014 after averaging a double-double with 14.5 points and 10.0 rebounds to go along with 13 blocked shots in KU victories against then-top-10 opponents Iowa State (1/13) and Oklahoma State (1/18). Included was a KU freshman-record eight blocked shots against OSU.
Wiggins scored a Kansas freshman record 41 points at West Virginia in KU’s regular-season finale on March 8. The Vaughan, Ontario, Canada, guard leads Kansas with a 16.8 scoring average, the best among Big 12 freshmen and eighth overall in the conference. Wiggins has made 37 threes this season and is the team leader with 36 steals after his career-high five at WVU, the most by any Jayhawk this season. Wiggins’ 5.9 rebound average is third on the team. A gifted shooter, Wiggins also ranks among the Big 12 leaders in field goal percentage (11th at 45.2) and free throw percentage (10th at 76.5).
The Big 12 Freshman of the Year, Wiggins was a three-time Big 12 Newcomer of the Week before landing a unanimous All-Big 12 First Team selection earlier this month. He was the Wayman Tisdale National Freshman of the Week on Jan. 28 and is on most every national player and freshman of the year ballot.
2013-14 USBWA All-DISTRICT VI
(IA, MO, KS, OK, NE, ND, SD)
PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Doug McDermott, Creighton
COACH OF THE YEAR: Gregg Marshall, Wichita State
ALL-DISTRICT TEAM
Cleanthony Early, Wichita State
Melvin Ejim, Iowa State
Joel Embiid, Kansas
DeAndre Kane, Iowa State
Roy Devyn Marble, Iowa
Doug McDermott, Creighton
Terran Petteway, Nebraska
Marcus Smart, Oklahoma State
Fred VanVleet, Wichita State
Andrew Wiggins, Kansas
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