Kansas Athletics
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas redshirt-junior Jalen Wilson has been named 2023 U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) All-America First Team, the USBWA announced Wednesday. This is the second All-America First Team selection on the day as the Denton, Texas, forward was named National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Wednesday morning.
Having accomplished All-America First Team honors by the NABC, Associated Press, The Sporting News and USBWA, Wilson will be named Consensus All-America First Team as those entities make up the collaboration of the consensus teams recognized by the NCAA.
Wilson will be Kansas’ 32nd all-time Consensus All-America First Team selection and gives Kansas back-to-back honorees as Ochai Agbaji earned the distinction in 2022. Wilson is the seventh Jayhawk to be named Consensus All-America in the Bill Self era joining Wayne Simien (2005), Sherron Collins (2010), Thomas Robinson (2012), Frank Mason III (2017), Devonte’ Graham (2018) and Agbaji (2022).
Both the NABC and USBWA All-America first teams included the same five individuals with Wilson, Zach Edey (Purdue), Trayce Jackson-Davis (Indiana), Marcus Sasser (Houston), and Drew Timme (Gonzaga).
NABC All-America teams began in 1946-47 and Wilson is the 21st player from Kansas named to the organization’s first team as selected by the nation’s coaches. Clyde Lovellette was Kansas’ first NABC All-America First Team selection earning the honor twice in 1951 and 1952.
USBWA teams have been named since 1956-57 and are voted on by its membership which is made up of journalists nationwide whose interest is to cover college basketball. Wilson is the 19th USBWA All-America First Team honoree from Kansas. Wilt Chamberlain was the first earning the honor twice in 1957 and 1958, and Udoka Azubuike was the most recent in 2020.
The unanimous Big 12 Player of the Year and All-Big 12 First Team selection, Wilson leads the Big 12 in scoring at 20.1 points per game, which is 26th nationally. Wilson has two 30-point performances and 20 games of 20 or more points scored this season, including each of his last five games. The Denton, Texas, forward also leads the Big 12 with 8.4 rebounds per game and 22 double-doubles.
On nearly every national player of the year watch list, Wilson ranks tied for 27th on the Kansas career scoring list, currently at 1,435 points, and his 791 career rebounds are 14th on the KU list. Wilson’s 28 career double-doubles are ninth on the KU all-time list.
No. 1 seed Kansas (27-7) will begin the defense of its NCAA National Championship against No. 16 seed Howard (22-12) on Thursday, March 16, at 1 p.m. CT, at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa. The game will be televised on TBS.