Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield, Texas Tech’s Tubby Smith lead All-Big 12 coaches’ selections
Oklahoma guard Buddy Hield is the Big 12 men’s basketball player of the year and Texas Tech’s Tubby Smith is the coach of the year, according to the coaches’ all-conference team announced Sunday.
Hield won the Big 12 player of the year award for the second straight year after ranking second in the nation with an average of 25.3 points per game. He was joined on the coaches’ All-Big 12 first team by KU’s Perry Ellis, Iowa State’s Georges Niang, Texas’ Isaiah Taylor and Baylor’s Taurean Prince.
Smith led Tech, which was 13-19 overall and 3-15 in the Big 12 a year ago, into NCAA Tournament contention with a 19-11 regular-season record and 9-9 mark in the conference.
Those selections, along with Iowa State’s Deonte Burton as newcomer of the year, mirror The Star’s All-Big 12 team announced Saturday with one exception — The Star chose West Virginia guard Jaysean Paige to its team over Taylor. Paige was chosen as the coaches’ top sixth man.
Kansas, which won the Big 12 regular-season title by two games over West Virginia, also landed guards Frank Mason and Wayne Selden on the coaches’ second-team, and Mason and Devonte’ Graham were chosen to the coaches’ Big 12 all-defensive team.
“I feel great,” KU coach Bill Self said in a release. “Perry was well deserving of first team. It was great that the coaches saw Frank and Wayne as second team because there are so many good players in our league and to have both those guys on second team speaks volumes to how well our team has done and how well they performed.
“To see Frank and Devonte’ on the all-defensive team gives me a lot of pride because I think both those guys have improved so much in that area.”
Kansas State’s Wesley Iwundu was a third-team selection by the coaches and also made the all-defensive team. Wildcats freshmen Barry Brown and Dean Wade were chosen to the coaches’ all-newcomer team.
Awards were chosen by the Big 12’s coaches, who could not vote for themselves or their players.
All-Big 12 coaches’ awards
PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Buddy Hield, Oklahoma
DEFENSIVE PLAYER: Prince Ibeh, Texas
NEWCOMER: Deonte Burton, Iowa State*
FRESHMAN: Jawun Evans, Oklahoma State
SIXTH MAN: Jaysean Paige, West Virginia*
COACH: Tubby Smith, Texas Tech
All-Big 12 first team
Taurean Prince, Baylor, F, 6-7, 215, Sr.
Georges Niang*, Iowa State, F, 6-8, 230, Sr.
Perry Ellis*, Kansas, F, 6-8, 225, Sr.
Buddy Hield*, Oklahoma, G, 6-4, 214, Sr.
Isaiah Taylor, Texas, G, 6-3, 185, Jr.
Second team
Monté Morris, Iowa State, G, 6-3, 175, Jr.
Frank Mason III, Kansas, G, 5-11, 185, Jr.
Wayne Selden Jr., Kansas, G, 6-5, 230, Jr.
Jaysean Paige, West Virginia, G, 6-2, 200, Sr.
Devin Williams, West Virginia, F, 6-9, 255, Jr.
Third team
Rico Gathers, Baylor, F, 6-8, 275, Sr.
Johnathan Motley, Baylor, F, 6-9, 230, So.
Wesley Iwundu, Kansas State, F, 6-7, 210, Jr.
Isaiah Cousins, Oklahoma, G, 6-4, 200, Sr.
Ryan Spangler, Oklahoma, F, 6-8, 234, Sr.
HONORABLE MENTION: Lester Medford (Baylor), Jameel McKay (Iowa State), Abdel Nader (Iowa State), Matt Thomas (Iowa State), Devonte’ Graham (Kansas), Landen Lucas (Kansas), Jordan Woodard (Oklahoma), Jawun Evans (Oklahoma State), Jeff Newberry (Oklahoma State), Javan Felix (Texas), Toddrick Gotcher (Texas Tech), Aaron Ross (Texas Tech), Zach Smith (Texas Tech)
All-defensive team
Devonte’ Graham, Kansas, G, 6-2, 175, So.
Frank Mason III, Kansas, G, 5-11, 185, Jr.
Wesley Iwundu, Kansas State, F, 6-7, 210, Jr.
Khadeem Lattin, Oklahoma, F, 6-9, 208, So.
Prince Ibeh*, Texas, C, 6-11, 265, Sr.
Jevon Carter, West Virginia, G, 6-2, 185, So.
All-newcomer team
Deonte Burton*, Iowa State, G, 6-4, 250, Jr.
Barry Brown, Kansas State, G, 6-3, 195, Fr.
Dean Wade, Kansas State, F, 6-10, 225, Fr.
Jawun Evans, Oklahoma State, G, 6-0, 180, Fr.
Eric Davis Jr., Texas, G, 6-2, 185, Fr.
Kerwin Roach Jr., Texas, G, 6-4, 170, Fr.
*Unanimous selection; ties in voting created extra spots on all-defensive and newcomer teams
This story was originally published March 6, 2016 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield, Texas Tech’s Tubby Smith lead All-Big 12 coaches’ selections."