KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Kansas senior
Ochai Agbaji has been named 2022 National Association of Basketball Coaches
(NABC) All-America First Team, the NABC announced Wednesday. This is the fourth
All-America First Team selection for Agbaji as he also earned the accolade with
the Associated Press (AP), The Sporting News and Bleacher Report.
The NABC, AP and The Sporting News are three of the four that make up the
collaboration of Consensus All-America teams with Agbaji garnering first-team
honors for all three. The United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA)
is the lone All-America team of the four that has not been announced for
2021-22.
Joining Agbaji on the 2022 NABC All-America First Team are Kofi Cockburn
(Illinois), Johnny Davis (Wisconsin), Jaden Ivey (Purdue) and Oscar Tshiebwe
(Kentucky). The All-America honors are voted on by NABC-member coaches across
NCAA Division I.
Agbaji is the 42nd Jayhawk to earn NABC All-America status and the
latest first-team honoree since Udoka Azubuike in 2020. Agbaji is the seventh
first-team and 19th overall NABC All-America selection in head coach
Bill Self’s era at Kansas that began in 2003-04 and covers 19 seasons.
A Naismith Player of the Year semifinalist and on the Wooden Award Ballot,
Agbaji is coming off Big 12 Championship All-Tournament selection in guiding
Kansas to the tourney title last weekend. Agbaji was named the 2022 Big 12
Championship Most Outstanding Player. Earlier this week, he was named to the
NABC All-District 8 First Team.
Agbaji, the 2022 Big 12 Player of the Year, leads the Big 12 and is 25th
nationally in scoring at 19.7 points per game. The Kansas City, Missouri, guard
is second in the league in three-point field goal percentage (40.5%, 31st
nationally) and in three-point field goals made per game (2.8, 42nd
nationally).
A four-year starter for KU, Agbaji has etched his name into the Kansas records
book. He holds the record for consecutive games of three-point field goals made
at 53. He also ranks 18th on the KU career scoring list with 1,570 points,
fourth on the three-point field goals made (239) and fourth on three-point
field goals attempted (645).