Baylor Men’s Basketball's Flagler Named Jerry West Award Finalist
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Baylor senior guard Adam Flagler has been selected as one of five finalists for the 2023 Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award, as announced Tuesday by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Named after Class of 1980 Hall of Famer and 1959 NCAA Final Four Most Valuable Player Jerry West, the annual honor in its ninth year recognizes the top shooting guards in the country.
Flagler is joined on the list by Kansas’ Gradey Dick, Houston’s Marcus Sasser, Miami’s Isaiah Wong and UConn’s Jordan Hawkins. The senior is Baylor’s second West-Award finalist in the last three seasons as MaCio Teague made the cut in 2021. The unanimous First Team All-Big 12 selection is aiming to become the second player in program history to win a national individual award, following Johnathan Motley's 2017 Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year honor.
The Duluth, Ga., native is tied for the conference lead in three-point field goals per game (2.6) while finishing second in assist-turnover ratio (2.8) and three-point field goal percentage (.411). After making the Jerry West Award Top-10 last season, Flagler led the team in assists 21 times this year.
The unanimous first-team selection by the league’s coaches has been Baylor’s primary point guard this season, meaning 12 of Baylor’s last 13 starting point guards under Scott Drew have earned All-Big 12 recognition.
The winner of the 2023 Jerry West Award will be presented on a to-be-determined date, along with the other four members of the Men’s Starting Five. Additional awards being presented include the Bob Cousy Award (Point Guard), Julius Erving Award (Small Forward), Karl Malone Award (Power Forward) and the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award (Center), in addition to the Women’s Starting Five.
No. 4 seed Baylor opens play at the 2023 Big 12 Championship with a quarterfinal matchup against No. 5 seed Iowa State at 11:30 a.m. CT on ESPN or ESPN2. The winner of that game will face the winner of Thursday's 2 p.m. quarterfinal between No. 1 seed Kansas and either No. 8 seed West Virginia or No. 9 seed Texas Tech. That semifinal game is scheduled for 6 p.m. Friday, and the championship game is at 5 p.m. Saturday.