Tang named AP Big 12 Coach of the Year; Johnson, Nowell’s first team

MANHATTAN, Kan. First year head coach Jerome Tang and pensioners Keyontae Johnson and Marquis Nowell earned recognition on the AP All-Big 12 Teams announced Tuesday (March 7).

All three repeated their honors from the league’s coaches, as Tang was named the conference’s Coach of the Year, while Johnson was named Rookie of the Year and an All-Big 12 first-team selection along with Nowell in a media vote that regularly covers the Big 12.

Johnson and Kansas Jalen Wilsonwho repeated his Player of the Year honor from the league’s coaches, were both unanimous first-team selections, while Nowell, Baylor’s Adam Flagler and Texas’ Marcus Carr rounded out the first team. Kansas’ Grady Dick and Kevin McCullar Jr. highlighted another team along with TCU Damion Baugh and Mike Miles Jr. and Baylor’s Keyonte George.

Tang, who earlier in the day was named a finalist for several National Coach of the Year awards, including the Ben Jobe Award (minority Division I head coach), the Joe B. Hall Award (first-year head coach) and the Jim Phelan Award. The award makes him the seventh head coach in school history to earn conference Coach of the Year honors, including the third in the Big 12 era (tied Frank Martin and Bruce Weber). He joins Bruce Weber (2013) as the only coaches selected for the honor in their first seasons.

After selection 10^th In the preseason Big 12 poll, which features just two returning starters, Tang has guided the Wildcats to 23 wins so far this season and a tie for third place with an 11-7 record in the nation’s toughest conference. His record of 23-8 is currently tied for Missouri Dennis GatesXavier’s Sean Miller and Duke’s Jon Scheyer for the best mark by a first-year Division I head coach this season. His 23 wins are a tie Bob Huggins the second-most by a first-year head coach in school history, while he is the fifth K-State head coach to win 20 games in his first season.

Johnson and Nowell are the 14th duo in school history to both be named first-team all-conference, including just the second in the Big 12 era. Barry Brown Jr. and Dean Wade in 2018-19. They are just the seventh and eighth K-State players in the Big 12 era to earn first-team honors from league coaches.

Johnson is the 13th Wildcat since 1970 to be voted the league’s Rookie of the Year and the third in the Big 12 era to be selected for the honor by the AP. Jeremiah Massey (2004) and Denis Clemente (2009).

A 6-foot-6, 230-pound forward from Norfolk, Va., Johnson is currently averaging a team-best 17.8 points on 51.9 percent (203-of-391) shooting, including 42.4 percent (42-of-99). ) from three-point range and 72.5 percent (103-of-142) from the free-throw line, leading to a team-best 7.0 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.2 steals in 34 minutes per game. He is one of only two players (Kansas Jalen Wilson) to finish in the top five of the Big 12 in scoring and rebounding in both overall and league-only games.

Nowell, a 160-pound point guard from Harlem, NY, is averaging 17 points on 37.6 percent (146-of-388) shooting, including 35.6 percent (74-of-208) from 3-point range. 88.5 percent (162-of-183) from the free-throw line, with a top-12 average of 7.7 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 2.5 steals in 36.4 minutes per game. He ranks in the top three in the Big 12 in 13 categories, including assists (238), assists/game, free throws (162) and free throw attempts (183), free throw percentage, steals (76), assists/game and minutes.

K-State has advanced to the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship quarterfinals as the No. 3 seed and will play No. 6 and No. 22/22 TCU (20-11, 9-9 Big 12) at 8:30 p.m. CT on Thursday, March 9 . The tournament begins on Wednesday, March 8 with two first round games.

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