Senior guard Jamal Shead and head coach Kelvin Sampson headlined a long list of Houston Cougars awarded with All-Big 12 distinctions today. | Anh Le/The Cougar
Houston Cougars senior guard Jamal Shead and head coach Kelvin Sampson dominated the 2023-24 edition of the All-Big 12 Men’s Basketball Awards, which were released today.
Shead was recognized as the best player in the conference this season, winning the Big 12 Player of the Year Award. The star guard was also named Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, making history as the first player to ever win both awards in the same season.
Houston’s floor general also picked up a unanimous selection to the All-Big 12 First Team alongside Iowa State’s Tamin Lipsey, Kansas’ Hunter Dickinson and Kevin McCullar Jr., and Texas’ Dylan Disu. Shead’s name also graced the All-Big 12 Defensive First Team.
Shead has averaged 13.2 points, 6.2 assists, 3.9 rebounds, 2.3 steals and 0.5 blocks per game for the Cougars this season. In conference play Shead has bumped up his scoring average to 15.7 points per game.
In his tenth season with the Cougars, head coach Kelvin Sampson won the distinction of Big 12 Coach of the Year. It is Sampson’s first time winning the award though the coach won the American Athletic Conference rendition of the award on four occasions, including the last two seasons.
Other awardees from the No. 1-ranked Cougars include senior guard LJ Cryer, senior forward J’Wan Roberts and freshman forward Joseph Tugler while junior forward Ja’Vier Francis and sophomore guard Emanuel Sharp were named All-Big 12 Team Honorable Mentions.
The Cougars concluded their 2023-24 regular season on Saturday night with a dominant senior night victory over No. 14 Kansas that sealed the team as the lone holders of the Big 12 Conference regular season title, poised to enter the conference tournament as the country’s top-ranked team. Houston will begin its tourney run on Thursday afternoon in Kansas City, Missouri.
