Hield becomes the second Oklahoma player to win the award, joining Blake Griffin (2009). The senior had 20 games with at least 15 points, five rebounds and five assists, and led the Big Ten in double-doubles with 12. Also awarded were four positional honors created and managed by the Basketball Hall of Fame: Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award, Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award, Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award.
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Hield increased his averages to 25.2 points and 6.6 rebounds per game in the NCAA Tournament, leading Oklahoma to its first Final Four appearance in 14 years.
“It’s been fun and I can’t be more blessed to be around college basketball”, Hield said Friday night.
They received their trophies during the second College Basketball Awards in a nationally televised show from The Novo in downtown Los Angeles.
2016 marks the second time Stewart has won the Wooden Award and she is a three-time victor of the Naismith Trophy (Atlanta Tip-Off Club), Associated Press Player of the Year Award and the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award (USBWA). The Bahamas native beat out Michigan State’s Denzel Valentine and Kentucky’s Tyler Ulis for the award.
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“However many games we’ve played, you can count on one hand the number of average games he’s had, and maybe two that were below average, and that’s really hard when you’ve got the target on your back every night from the opposition and you still raise your level and respond and make shots”, Oklahoma head coach Lon Kruger said, per USA Today’s George Schroeder. The sophomore set a school record by averaging 7.0 assists in a single season. She became the first player in NCAA history to be selected as the Final Four MOP four times.
