Jalen Wilson named 1st-team All-America, Keyontae Johnson and Markquis Nowell named 3rd team
Three players from the Sunflower State were named to the Associated Press college basketball All-America teams on Tuesday, headlined by Kansas Jayhawks fourth-year forward Jalen Wilson on the first team.
Two Kansas State Wildcats seniors, Keyontae Johnson and Markquis Nowell, were named to the third team.
The unanimous Big 12 Player of the Year, Wilson led the conference in scoring at 20.1 points per game, also besting all Big 12 players with 8.4 rebounds per contest and 12 double-doubles for the season. Wilson is the fourth Jayhawk in the last seven seasons to be named a first-team All-American, joining Ochai Agbaji (2022), Devonte’ Graham (2018) and Frank Mason III (2017), and he’s the sixth overall in the Bill Self era.
He is also on the final ballot for both the Naismith Trophy and Wooden Award national player of year honors.
The other four AP first-team All-Americans this year are Zach Edey from Purdue, Trayce Jackson-Davis from Indiana, Marcus Sasser from Houston and Brandon Miller from Alabama.
Johnson and Nowell are K-State’s eigthh and ninth All-Americans in program history, and they’re the first All-America honorees since Jacob Pullen made the third team in 2011.
Both Wildcats were first-team all-conference picks and finished top five in scoring in the Big 12, with Johnson finishing second with an average of 17.7 points per game and Nowell coming in fourth at 16.8 points per game. Johnson, who transferred in from Florida this past offseason, also joins Wilson as the only players in the Big 12 to finish top five in both scoring and rebounding, while Nowell, who’s in his second year with K-State after transferring in from Little Rock, led the conference in both assists and steals.
Tyler Kolek from Marquette, Kris Murray from Iowa and Armando Bacot from North Carolina were also named third-team All-Americans.
To see the full list of AP All-America selections for 2023, click here.
Wilson and the No. 1 seed Jayhawks will open the NCAA tournament in Des Moines, Iowa on Thursday at 1:00 p.m. against the 16th-seeded Howard Bison, while Johnson, Nowell and the third-seeded Wildcats will play Friday at 8:40 p.m. against the No. 14 seed Montana State Bobcats in Greensboro, North Carolina.
