Baylor's MaCio Teague Named to West Award Top 10
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Baylor men’s basketball senior guard MaCio Teague has been selected as one of the top 10 candidates for the 2021 Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award, as announced Tuesday by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Teague joins Kansas’ Ochai Agbaji to give the Big 12 Conference two candidates among the top 10. Austin Peay’s Terry Taylor, UConn’s James Bouknight, Gonzaga’s Joel Ayayi, Iowa’s Joe Wieskamp, LSU’s Cameron Thomas, Michigan’s Franz Wagner, Oregon’s Chris Duarte and Saint Louis’ Jordan Goodwin round out the 10-player list.
Among the 10 remaining Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award candidates, Teague leads in career 3-point percentage (.406) and 3-point field goals made (247). He ranks second in career points (1,659), assists (245) and steals (130) and third in rebounds (480) and points per game (15.4).
A Cincinnati, Ohio, native, Teague is the nation’s only active player with 1,500+ career points (1,659), 400+ rebounds (480), 225+ assists (245), 125+ steals (130) and 225+ made 3-pointers (247).
Teague has helped Baylor to a 14-0 start and a No. 2 national ranking in his 2020-21 senior season. The Bears are 40-4 since he became eligible at the start of the 2019-20 season, including a conference-best 22-3 in Big 12 games. Teague leads the team with 12 double-figure scoring games, including a trio of 20-point games to bring his total to 26 career 20-point games.
He ranks eighth in the Big 12 Conference in scoring (14.8), fifth in field goal percentage (.471) and fifth in free throw percentage (.857). He also ranks 10th in the league with 1.43 steals per game in conference play and seventh with 34.6 minutes per game in league contests.
Teague has earned all-conference honors in each of his previous three seasons of college basketball. He was tabbed All-Big South First Team in each of his two seasons at UNC Asheville before earning All-Big 12 Second-Team and All-Newcomer Team honors for Baylor last season.
Named after Class of 1980 Hall of Famer and 1959 NCAA Final Four Most Valuable Player Jerry West, the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award in its seventh year recognizing the top shooting guards in Division I men’s college basketball. A national committee of college basketball personnel determined the watch list of 20 candidates in November, which has now been narrowed to 10.
In late February, five finalists will be presented to Mr. West and the Hall of Fame’s selection committee. The winner of the 2021 Jerry West Award will be presented April 9, 2021, along with the other four members of the Men’s Starting Five. Additional awards being presented include the Bob Cousy Point Guard Award, the Julius Erving Small Forward Award, the Karl Malone Power Forward Award and the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center Award, in addition to the Women’s Starting Five. College basketball fans can support their favorite players by participating in Fan Voting presented by Dell.
Previous winners of the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award include Myles Powell, Seton Hall (2020), RJ Barrett, Duke (2019), Carsen Edwards, Purdue (2018), Malik Monk, Kentucky (2017), Buddy Hield, Oklahoma (2016) and D’Angelo Russell, Ohio State (2015).
For more information on the 2021 Jerry West Award and the latest updates, log onto www.hoophallawards.com and follow @hoophall and #WestAward on Twitter and Instagram. Starting Five Fan Voting presented by Dell Technologies will go live on Friday, January 29 on HoophallAwards.com.
Baylor returns to action Wednesday when the Bears host Kansas State at the Ferrell Center for the 94th anniversary Immortal Ten Game. The game will tip off at 8 p.m. CT and will be televised on ESPN2. The Bears then host Auburn at 1 or 3 p.m. CT Saturday on ESPN for the annual Big 12/SEC Challenge. Follow @BaylorMBB on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for updates throughout the year.
2021 WEST AWARD TOP 10 WATCH LIST
Terry Taylor, Austin Peay
MaCio Teague, Baylor
James Bouknight, UConn
Joel Ayayi, Gonzaga
Joe Wieskamp, Iowa
Ochai Agbaji, Kansas
Cameron Thomas, LSU
Franz Wagner, Michigan
Chris Duarte, Oregon
Jordan Goodwin, Saint Louis