Cam McGriff, Lindy Waters Earn All-Big 12 Honorable Mention

To the victors go the spoils — and the awards.

On Sunday, the Big 12 announced its all-conference teams and end-of-season awards as voted on by the league’s coaches. It was little surprise that none of the 9th-placed Cowboys where recognized when the hardware was doled out.

There was also nothing too shocking to announce. Texas Tech’s Chris Beard earned Coach of the Year, and his star Jarrett Culver won the league’s Player of the Year Award.

But a couple of Pokes were mentioned (honorably) once the all-conference first and second teams were completed.

OSU’s leading scorer Cam McGriff, and the conference’s third-best 3-point shooter Lindy Waters were named as All-Big 12 honorable mentions. This is the first time either junior has been recognized by the conference in either career.

McGriff ended the regular season averaging 12.4 points per game (14th in the league), and his 7.4 rebounds comes in third. McGriff’s offensive production trailed off over the last dozen or so games with Mike Boynton noting his front court anchor was not 100 percent. But McGriff showed up big down the stretch with 19 points and eight rebounds in the loss at Kansas and then 14 and five two games later to help the Cowboys win their season finale over West Virginia.

Waters comes in right behind McGriff at 12.1 points per game (16th in the Big 12) and is shooting 45.3 percent from 3. His 90.8-percent free-throw clip ranks second in the Big 12.

The snub of the release goes to Yor Anei who, despite leading the league in blocks as a true freshman, was not included on the all-freshman team by the coaches.

Here’s a look at the league-wide results, and here are the All-Big 12 teams.

Player of the Year — Jarrett Culver (Texas Tech)
Defensive Player of the Year — Barry Brown, Jr. (K-State)
Newcomer of the Year — Dedric Lawson (Kansas)
Freshman of the Year — Jaxson Hayes (Texas)
Sixth Man of the Year —  Lindell Wigginton (Iowa State)
Most Improved Player — Kristian Doolittle (Oklahoma)

Coach of the Year — Chris Beard (Texas Tech)