Baylor’s Walter Named Freshman of the Year, Headlining BU’s All-Big 12 Honorees
IRVING, Texas – J’Kobe Walter headlined a group of five Bears highlighted by the Big 12’s All-Conference awards announced Monday evening.
The Preseason Big 12 Freshman of the Year joined Jalen Bridges, RayJ Dennis, Langston Love and Yves Missi as Baylor’s five Big 12 honorees on Sunday. The Bears tied Kansas’ five selections for the second-most in the conference behind only Houston’s six.
The Big 12 awards were voted on by the league’s head coaches, who were not permitted to vote for their own players.
In addition to being the 12th player in Big 12 history and the second-straight from Baylor to sweep the preseason and postseason freshman of the year honors, Walter was named to the All-Freshman Team and the All-Big 12 Third Team. His 14.7 points per game lead all Big 12 freshmen, eclipsing the 20-point mark eight times this season, including a career-high 28 points in his debut against Auburn back in November.
Dennis was Baylor’s lone representative on the All-Big 12 Second team, while also garnering a unanimous selection on the All-Big 12 Newcomer Team. Leaving his mark on the program in his only season in Waco, the Plainfield, Ill., native ranks second on the team averaging 13.5 points per game with a Big-12-leading 6.7 assists per game. His 205 assists currently rank as the fifth-most in a single season in program history.
Bridges makes his second appearance on an All-Big 12 squad but his first at Baylor with his nod to the All-Big 12 Third Team. The 2020-21 All-Big 12 Freshman team honoree at West Virginia came up big for the Bears at the end of the season, averaging a career-best 11.6 points per game, including a 15.1-point average in the eight games that leading bench scorer Love was out with an injury.
Love was named an All-Big 12 Honorable Mention after averaging 11 points per game off the bench this season. His 11 points per game led the conference among players with zero starts this season. Despite missing seven games with injury, Love led the Bears in bench points 17 times this season.
Missi’s impressive freshman season earned him a spot on the All-Big 12 Freshman and Defensive teams. A Big 12 Newcomer of the week last month, Missi finished the regular season averaging 10.9 points and 1.5 blocks per game for the Bears. His team-leading four double-doubles this season are the most by a Baylor player since Freddie Gillespie in 2019-20.
No. 3 seed Baylor opens play at the 2024 Big 12 Championship with a quarterfinal matchup at 8:30 p.m. CT on ESPN or ESPN2. Earning a double-bye, Baylor will await the winner of No. 6 Kansas and the winner of No. 11 Cincinnati and No. 14 West Virginia.
2023-24 ALL-BIG 12 AWARDS
Coach of the Year: Kelvin Sampson, Houston
Player of the Year: Jamal Shead, Houston
Sixth Man Award: Jaxon Robinson, BYU
Most Improved Player: Dylan Disu, Texas
Defensive Player of the Year: Jamal Shead, Houston
Newcomer of the Year: Hunter Dickinson, Kansas
Freshman of the Year: Ja’Kobe Walter, Baylor
All-Big 12 First Team
- Jamal Shead, Houston*
- Tamin Lipsey, Iowa State
- Hunter Dickinson, Kansas
- Kevin McCullar Jr., Kansas
- Dylan Disu, Texas
All-Big 12 Second Team
- RayJ Dennis, Baylor
- LJ Cryer, Houston
- Keshon Gilbert, Iowa State
- Emanuel Miller, TCU
- Max Abmas, Texas
All-Big 12 Third Team
- Jalen Bridges, Baylor
- Ja’Kobe Walter, Baylor
- J’Wan Roberts, Houston
- Pop Isaacs, Texas Tech
- Darion Williams, Texas Tech
All-Big 12 Honorable Mention
Langston Love (Baylor), Yves Missi (Baylor), Dallon Hall (BYU), Spencer Johnson (BYU), Jaxson Robinson (BYU), Fousseyni Traore (BYU), Ibrahima Diallo (UCF), Darius Johnson (UCF), Jaylin Sellers (UCF),Dan Skillings Jr. (Cincinnati), Ja’Vier Francis (Houston), Emanuel Sharp (Houston), KJ Adams Jr. (Kansas), Johnny Furphy (Kansas), Dajuan Harris Jr. (Kansas), Arthur Kaluma (K-State), Tylor Perry (K-State), Javian McCollum (Oklahoma), Jalon Moore (Oklahoma), Javon Small (Oklahoma State), Jameer Nelson Jr. (TCU), Micah Peavy (TCU), Joe Toussaint (Texas Tech).
Big 12 All-Defensive Team
- Yves Missi, Baylor
- John Newman III, Cincinnati
- Jamal Shead, Houston*
- Tamin Lipsey, Iowa State*
- Dajuan Harris, Kansas
Big 12 All-Newcomer Team
- RayJ Dennis, Baylor*
- Keshon Gilbert, Iowa State
- Hunter Dickinson, Kansas
- Max Abmas, Texas
- Darrion Williams, Texas Tech
Big 12 All-Freshman Team
- Yves Missi, Baylor
- Ja’Kobe Walter, Baylor*
- Joseph Tugler, Houston
- Milan Momcilovic, Iowa State
- Johnny Furphy, Kansas
* - unanimous selections
JALEN BRIDGES
- Preseason All-Big 12 (Honorable Mention)
- Julius Erving Preseason Top-20
- NIT Season Tip-Off All-Tournament Team
- All-Big 12 Third Team
RAYJ DENNIS
- Preseason All-Big 12 (Honorable Mention)
- NIT Season Tip-Off Tournament MVP
- Big 12 co-Newcomer of the Week (11/27)
- All-Big 12 Second Team
- All-Big 12 Newcomer Team
SCOTT DREW
- NABC Guardians of the Game Award for Leadership
YVES MISSI
- Big 12 Newcomer of the Week (2/12)
- All-Big 12 Freshman Team
- All-Big 12 Defensive Team
JAYDEN NUNN
- Big 12 Player of the Week (2/19)
- Big 12 Newcomer of the Week (2/19)
JA’KOBE WALTER
- Big 12 Freshman of the Year
- Preseason Big 12 Freshman of the Year
- Jerry West Award Preseason Top-20
- Big 12 Player of the Week (11/13)
- NABC Player of the Week (11/14)
- Wooden Award Preseason Top-50
- NIT Season Tip-Off All-Tournament Team
- Wooden Award Midseason Top-25
- Jerry West Award Top-10
- All-Big 12 Third Team
- All-Big 12 Freshman Team