Kansas State Athletics
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Seniors Keyontae Johnson and Markquis Nowell continued to add to their list of honors on Wednesday afternoon (March 15), as the tandem earned All-America accolades from the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA).
Nowell was named a Third Team All-American by both the NABC and USBWA, while Johnson was a member of the NABC's Third Team and one of four to garner honorable mention honors from the USBWA.
Johnson and Nowell are the first Wildcats to garner All-America honors from the NABC since Jacob Pullen in 2011, while Nowell is the first to earn the distinction from the USBWA since Michael Beasley in 2008.
Already this season, the duo became the first in school history to be selected as All-Americans by The Associated Press and the first since Pullen in 2011 when they earned Third Team recognition on March 14, while Nowell has also earned Third Team honors from The Sporting News.
In addition, Johnson and Nowell have been named to several Watch Lists for National Players of the Year honors, while each were selected as finalists for their respective position awards in Johnson for the Julius Erving Small Forward Award and Nowell for the Bob Cousy Point Guard Award. Johnson was the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year, while both were chosen to the All-Big 12 First Team by both the league coaches and AP.
Nowell was joined on the USBWA's Third Team by North Carolina's Armando Bacot, Detroit Mercy's Antoine Davis, Iowa's Kris Murray and Penn State's Jalen Pickett. Johnson joined on the honorable mention list with Oral Roberts' Max Abmas, Memphis' Kendric Davis and Miami's Isaiah Wong. Johnson and Nowell was joined on the NABC's Third Team by Oral Roberts' Max Abmas, Marquette's Tyler Kolek and Wong.
Purdue's Zach Edey, Indiana's Trayce Jackson-Davis, Houston's Marcus Sasser, Gonzaga's Drew Timme and Kansas' Jalen Wilson were named First Team All-Americans by both the NABC and USBWA, while both organizations listed UCLA's Jaime Jaquez Jr., Alabama's Brandon Miller, Kentucky's Oscar Tshiebwe and Arizona's Azuolas Tubelis as Second Team All-Americans. Pickett was on the NABC's Second Team, while Kolek received Second Team honors from the USBWA.
A 6-foot-6, 230-pound forward from Norfolk, Va., Johnson is currently averaging a team-best 17.7 points on 51.9 percent (209-of-403) from the field, including 41.9 percent (44-of-105) from 3-point range, and 72.5 percent (103-of-142) from the free throw line, to go with a team-best 7.0 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.1 steals in 34.0 minutes per game. He is one of only two players (Wilson) to rank in the top-5 in the Big 12 in scoring and rebounding both in overall and league-only games.
A 5-foot-7, 160-pound point guard from Harlem, N.Y., Nowell is averaging 16.8 points on 37.7 percent (151-of-401) from the field, including 34.6 percent (75-of-217) from 3-point range, and 88.5 percent (162-of-183) from the free throw line to go along with a Big 12-best 7.6 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 2.4 steals in 36.5 minutes per game. He ranks in the Big 12's top-3 in 13 categories, including tops in assists (243), assists/game, free throws made (162) and attempted (183), free throw percentage, steals (76), steals/game and minutes.
No. 15/13 K-State (23-9, 11-7 Big 12) earned a 3-seed in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday night and will meet No. 14 seed Montana State (25-9, 15-3 Big Sky) at 8:40 p.m., CT on Friday night in the first round of the East Regional at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, N.C.