The Atlanta Tipoff Club has announced its Naismith Trophy Midseason 35 and five Big 12 student-athletes are on the list. Perry Ellis and Wayne Selden from Kansas, Monte Morris and Georges Niang of Iowa State along with Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield are part of the group.
Iowa State and Kansas are two of six programs to place multiple student-athletes on the list, along with Duke, Gonzaga, Kentucky and Providence. The Big 12 is the only league with multiple teams having multiple candidates. The five honorees overall is tied for second among all conferences.
Niang is second in the Big 12 in scoring with 19.0 points per game and is also eighth in rebounding with 6.4 per contest. He is one of five active players nationally to have scored 400 points or more in all four collegiate seasons. Morris recently became the 32nd player in school history to surpass the 1,000-point plateau and has recorded 48 assists with just four turnovers in the last four outings.
Ellis has scored 19 or more points in five of his last six games, including four 20-point efforts. The senior forward is averaging 19.5 points and 6.6 rebounds during Big 12 play and 16.9 points and 6.5 rebounds overall. Ellis is the only player in the Big 12 to rank in the top-seven in scoring (third) and rebounding (seventh). Selden is seventh in the Big 12 in scoring at 14.4 points per game, third in the league in 3-point field goals made per game at 2.3 and fifth in 3-point field goal percentage at 43.7 percent.
Hield continues to lead the Big 12 in scoring, checking in at 25.7 points per game. He is shooting 51.8 percent from the field overall, including a Big 12-best 50 percent from 3-point range. He is also first in the conference from the charity stripe, hitting at a .902 clip from the line.
The Atlanta Tipoff Club will announce the semifinalists for the Naismith Trophy on March 2 and the list of finalists on March 20.
Big 12 Players On Naismith Trophy Midseason 35
Monte Morris, Iowa State
Georges Niang, Iowa State
Perry Ellis, Kansas
Wayne Selden, Kansas
Buddy Hield, Oklahoma