Baylor MBB Racks Up Big 12 Yearly Awards
IRVING, Texas – Baylor basketball picked up four Big 12 yearly awards, and a conference-record five Bears were named to All-Big 12 teams, as voted on by the league’s coaches and announced Sunday by the conference office.
Baylor head coach Scott Drew was named Big 12 Coach of the Year, Freddie Gillespie was selected as the league’s Most Improved Player, Devonte Bandoo earned the Sixth Man Award and Davion Mitchell was tabbed Big 12 Newcomer of the Year.
Additionally, all five Baylor starters earned All-Big 12 honors, making Baylor the first team in the league’s 24-year history with five All-Big 12 team selections. Sophomore Jared Butler was one of three unanimous selections to the All-Big 12 First Team, while Teague and Gillespie picked up All-Big 12 Second Team honors. Mitchell and Mark Vital were named to the All-Big 12 Third Team.
Baylor had three players on the five-member Big 12 All-Defensive Team, with Vital being selected unanimously, and Gillespie and Mitchell joining him. Mitchell and Teague were the only unanimous selections on the Big 12 All-Newcomer Team.
Drew’s Big 12 Coach of the Year award is the first by a Baylor coach, and Gillespie was the first Baylor player voted as the league’s Most Improved Player. Bandoo is the fifth Baylor player in the last 12 seasons to earn the league’s Sixth Man Award, joining LaceDarius Dunn (2009), Quincy Acy (2011), Taurean Prince (2015) and Terry Maston (2018), while Mitchell is the Bears’ second player named Big 12 Newcomer of the Year, joining Ekpe Udoh (2010).
Mitchell and Teague being selected to the All-Newcomer team give the Bears five such honors in the last four years, as Manu Lecomte and Jo Lual-Acuil Jr. were named in 2017, and Makai Mason was honored in 2019. The only unanimous selections on the All-Newcomer Team, Mitchell and Teague were joined by Austin Reaves (OU),Jahmi’us Ramsey (TTU) and Oscar Tshiebwe (WVU).
Gillespie, Mitchell and Vital gave the Bears three-fifths of the All-Defensive Team, with Vital a unanimous selection. They were joined by Kansas’ Udoka Azubuike and Marcus Garrett. This is just the second time in program history the Bears have had multiple All-Defensive Team selections, with Lual Acuil Jr. and IshmailWainright selected in 2017.
A school-record five players were named to All-Big 12 teams, with Butler on the first team, Teague and Gillespie on the second team and Vital and Mitchell on the third team. Baylor’s previous record for players on All-Big 12 teams was three, which was accomplished in 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2016.
Butler is Baylor’s first All-Big 12 First Team honoree since Johnathan Motley in 2017, and he joins Motley as the only unanimous first-team selections in program history. Butler is the first Baylor underclassman to earn first-team all-conference honors since Terry Teagle was selected to the All-Southwest Conference First Team as a sophomore in 1980.
Teague and Gillespie gave Baylor multiple second-team honorees for the first time since Kenny Chery and Taurean Prince in 2015, which was also the last time Baylor had three players combined among the first and second teams. Vital and Mitchell are the first Baylor teammates to earn third-team honors since Rico Gathers and Motley in 2016.
Butler was joined on the first team by Azubuike and Dotson from Kansas, Kristian Doolittle (OU) and Desmond Bane (TCU). Teague and Gillespie were second-team selections along with Tyrese Haliburton (ISU), Ramsey (TTU) and Tshiebwe (WVU). Mitchell and Vital were joined on the third team by Marcus Garrett (KU), BradyManek (OU and Matt Coleman (UT).
Mitchell and Teague were All-Newcomer Team selections with Austin Reaves (OU), Ramsey (TTU) and Tshiebwe(WVU).
Baylor is the Big 12 Championship No. 2 seed for the first time in 2020. The Bears open the tournament Thursday at 6 p.m. CT against the winner of Wednesday’s first-round game between No. 7 seed TCU and No. 10 seed Kansas State. The winner of that game will advance to a semifinal matchup at 8 p.m. Friday against the winner of Thursday’s quarterfinal between No. 3 seed Oklahoma and No. 6 seed West Virginia. The championship game is scheduled for 5 p.m. Saturday. All Big 12 Championship games will be broadcast on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU.
2020 BAYLOR SEASON HONORS
DEVONTE BANDOO
Big 12 Sixth Man Award
JARED BUTLER
All-Big 12, First Team (unanimous)
SCOTT DREW
Big 12 Coach of the Year
FREDDIE GILLESPIE
Big 12 Most Improved Player
All-Big 12, Second Team
Big 12 All-Defensive Team
DAVION MITCHELL
Big 12 Newcomer of the Year
All-Big 12, Third Team
Big 12 All-Newcomer Team (unanimous)
Big 12 All-Defensive Team
MACIO TEAGUE
All-Big 12, Second Team
Big 12 All-Newcomer Team (unanimous)
MARK VITAL
All-Big 12, Third Team
Big 12 All-Defensive Team (unanimous)
2020 ALL-BIG 12 AWARDS
Coach of the Year: Scott Drew (Baylor)
Player of the Year: Udoka Azubuike (Kansas)
Sixth Man Award: Devonte Bandoo (Baylor)
Most Improved Player: Freddie Gillespie (Baylor)
Defensive Player of the Year: Marcus Garrett (Kansas)
Newcomer of the Year: Davion Mitchell (Baylor)
Freshman of the Year: Jahmi’us Ramsey (Texas Tech)
First Team
Jared Butler, Baylor*
Udoka Azubuike, Kansas*
Devon Dotson, Kansas*
Kristian Doolittle, Oklahoma
Desmond Bane, TCU
Second Team
MaCio Teague, Baylor
Freddie Gillespie, Baylor
Tyrese Haliburton, Iowa State
Jahmi’us Ramsey, Texas Tech
Oscar Tshiebwe, West Virginia
Third Team
Davion Mitchell, Baylor
Mark Vital, Baylor
Marcus Garrett, Kansas
Brady Manek, Oklahoma
Matt Coleman, Texas
Honorable Mention: Rasir Bolton (Iowa State), Ochai Agbaji (Kansas), Xavier Sneed (Kansas State), Austin Reaves (Oklahoma), Isaac Likekele (Oklahoma State), Cameron McGriff (Oklahoma State), Andrew Jones (Texas), Courtney Ramey (Texas), Jericho Sims (Texas), Davide Moretti (Texas Tech), Derek Culver (West Virginia)
All-Defensive Team
Freddie Gillespie, Baylor
Davion Mitchell, Baylor
Mark Vital, Baylor*
Udoka Azubuike, Kansas
Marcus Garrett, Kansas*
All-Newcomer Team
Davion Mitchell, Baylor*
MaCio Teague, Baylor*
Austin Reaves, Oklahoma
Jahmi’us Ramsey, Texas Tech
Oscar Tshiebwe, West Virginia
All-Freshman Team
Christian Braun, Kansas
Jahmi’us Ramsey, Texas Tech*
Terrence Shannon, Texas Tech
Miles McBride, West Virginia
Oscar Tshiebwe, West Virginia*
* - unanimous selection