The award, which annually honors the top point guard in Division I men’s basketball, is named after the former Boston Celtics and Holy Cross guard. Bob Cousywho was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1971.
Nowell is the 20th winner of the award, who is proud of the inaugural winner – St. Joseph jameer nelson in 2004. He became the fourth Big 12 player to earn consideration, joining Texas A&M’s Act IV in 2007, Texas DJ Augustine in 2008 and Kansas’ Francis Mason II. Villanova’s Collin Gillespie He won the award in 2012.
Nowell was selected as a finalist for the award that included Marquette’s tyler kolekNorthwestern’s Boo BuiePenn State’s jalen pickett and St. Yuri Collins.
Nowell is the first Wildcat to win one of the positive awards presented annually by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, which includes the Bob Cousy Point Guard Award, the Jerry West Guard Award, the Julius Erving Small Forward Award, the Karl Malone Power Forward Award and the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center Award.
“I am honored to receive the Bob Cousy Award as the nation’s point guard,” Nowell said. “It is truly a blessing to be remembered among the best players in my country. I want to give all the honor and glory to God for giving me my talents and gifts at this time. I am not here without his grace.
“I can’t thank my teammates and coaches enough for all their hard work and sacrifices. It all started with Ish (Massoud) and I, and Coach (Hieronymus) Tang and his staff were able to build a team around us and we’ve had a great year that we’ve always had remember, I also want to thank my family for their sacrifice in helping me become the player and person I am today. Finally, a special shout out to the K-State Nation for all their love and support in my life.”
It’s yet another honor for the 5-foot-7, 160-pound guard from Harlem, NY, who capped his college career with a magical NCAA run in helping K-State advance to its 13th Elite Eight and first since. 2018. Nowell averaged 23.5 points, 13.5 assists and 4.0 steals in a NCAA playoff run, including 25 points and 15.5 assists in games against Michigan State and Florida Atlantic en route to earning East Regional NCAA Most Outstanding Player honors.
Nowell’s 54 assists in the NCAA Tournament are the third-most in tournament history and tied for most with Michigan. Rumeal Robinson 56 in 1989. He threw a game-record 19 in winning ways for the Spartans. He finished his college career with the second 30-point, 10-assist game in school history, while leading the way in games in points (30), assists (12) and steals (5) in playing all 40 minutes. . against the night He is the first player with at least 25 points and 10 assists in a game in the opening week or later since Marquette’s Dwyane Wade triple-double (29 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists) against Kentucky in 2003
Nowell was named a Third Team All-American by the Associated Press. The News, NABC and USBWA, while the Midseason National Player of the Year was selected for the Oscar Robertson Trophy, the John R. Wooden Award and the Naismith Award. He was also selected to the All-Big 12 First Team by the league and AP coaches and also to the Big 12 All-Defensive Team by the coaches. He was named the Big 12 Player of the Week 3 times as well as the consensus National Player of the Week on Jan. 9.
Nowell averaged a team-best 17.6 points on 38.6 percent (180-of-466) from the field, including 35.5 percent (88-of-248) from 3-point range, and 88.9 percent (185-of-208) from the free throw line with a Big 12-best 8.3 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 2.6 steals in 36.9 minutes per game. He leads the nation at 12-3 in 13 categories, including tops in assists (297), assists/game, free throws made (185) and attempts (208), free throw percentage, steals (92), rebounds/hunting and minutes .
Nowell is a perfect Big 12 play, ranking first in 6 categories, including scoring (19.5 ppg.), 3-point field goals/game (2.8), assists (7.2 apg.), rebounds (2.8 spg.), free throw percentage ( 91.1 ) and minutes (38.8 mpg.).
Nowell ranked second nationally in assists/game (8.3 apg.), total assists (297) and total rebounds (92), while ranking among the top 15 in 4 other categories, including sixth in steals/game (2.6 spg). 7th in free throw percentage (185), 14th in free throw percentage and minutes. He had 11 games of ten or more assists this season, with 10 points/assist double-doubles, including the school’s first 30-10 double-double with 32 points and 14 assists in a win at No. 19/16 Baylor on Jan. 7.
Nowell leaves K-State as the single-time leader in total assists and steals, assists/game and career leader in assists/game (6.87), while in the top 5 in single-season double-double scoring. (33/4th), 3-point field goals (88/5th), free throws (185/5th) and free throw percentage (88.9/5th).
Nowell’s 968 points in a 2-year career are the second-most by a Division I transfer in school history, while he is third in career assists (433) and fifth in career rebounds (151).
Nowell helped K-State to a 26-win season and its 13th trip to the Elite Eight in 2022-23. The 26 wins are the third-most in school history and the most since 27 wins in 2012-13.
How to pursue Caes; For complete information on K-State men’s basketball, visit www.kstatesports.com and follow their social media channels on Twitter, instagram and Facebook.
