Hawkins Selected To All-Freshman Team
NEW YORK – UConn grad student guard R.J. Cole and sophomore forward Adama Sanogo, the top two scorers on the men’s basketball team, were named to the All-BIG EAST First Team and freshman Jordan Hawkins was named to the league’s All-Freshman Team, as the BIG EAST Conference announced its first set of awards on Sunday.
The teams are selected by a vote of the league’s head coaches, who cannot vote for their own players.
Cole and Sanogo led the Huskies to a 22-8 regular-season record, the most regular-season wins since 2013-14, and to a 13-6 BIG EAST mark, the most conference wins since 2008-09. The Huskies, the No. 3 seed at next week’s BIG EAST Tournament, will begin play in the quarterfinals, facing either Seton Hall or Georgetown, on Thursday at 9:30 p.m. at Madison Square Garden (FS1).
Cole, who started all 30 games for the Huskies, led the team in scoring (15.8), assists (4.1), steals (1.2), three-pointers made (53), minutes played (33.3) and was UConn’s floor general. He led the team in scoring in 12 games and had 25 double-figure scoring games, including eight of 20 points or more.
Cole was fourth in the BIG EAST in scoring (15.7), third in free throw percentage (.836), sixth in assists (4.1), and seventh in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.2). He was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll five times.
Sanogo, one of five finalists for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award, was an inside force for the Huskies. He was second on the team to Cole in scoring (15.3), and led the Huskies in rebounding (8.6), offensive rebounds (3.5), and blocked shots (2.1). He led the team in scoring in 11 games, including 30 against Auburn, the team’s highest scoring game of the season. He topped the Huskies in rebounding in 10 games and had a team-high eight double-doubles.
Among all BIG EAST players, Sanogo led the league in rebounding (9.7) and field goal percentage (.509), was second in offensive rebounds (3.8), fourth in blocked shots (2.2) and seventh in scoring (15.1). He was named the BIG EAST Player of the Week twice and was on the Weekly Honor Roll three times.
Hawkins appeared in 27 games for UConn, starting four, and averaged 5.8 points and 2.0 rebounds. His 27 three-pointers ranked fourth on the team and his .821 free throw percentage ranked third.
Cole and Sanogo are UConn’s 23rd and 24th All-BIG EAST First Team selections since the league began in 1979-80. The Huskies also had four First Team picks while in the American Athletic Conference (2013-2020). Hawkins is UConn’s 29th BIG EAST All-Freshman Team selection (including Sanogo last year), and the Huskies had four All-Freshman Team picks while a member of the AAC.
It marks the third season that UConn has had two players selected All-BIG EAST First Team, following 2003-04 (Emeka Okafor, Ben Gordon) and 2007-08 (Jeff Adrien, A.J. Price).
The individual BIG EAST awards will be announced in the coming days.
All-BIG EAST First Team
Collin Gillespie, Villanova*
R.J. Cole, UConn
Adama Sanogo, UConn
Justin Lewis, Marquette
Julian Champagnie, St. John’s
Jared Rhoden, Seton Hall
All-BIG EAST Second Team
Ryan Hawkins, Creighton
Javon Freeman-Liberty, DePaul
Jared Bynum, Providence
Nate Watson, Providence
Justin Moore, Villanova
All-BIG EAST Honorable Mention
Ryan Kalkbrenner, Creighton
Darryl Morsell, Marquette
Posh Alexander, St. John’s
Jack Nunge, Xavier
BIG EAST All-Freshman Team
Aminu Mohammed, Georgetown*
Ryan Nembhard, Creighton*
Kam Jones, Marquette*
Jordan Hawkins, UConn
Trey Alexander, Creighton
Arthur Kaluma, Creighton
* — denotes unanimous selection