Mathurin Makes Wooden Award All-American Team

LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles Athletic Club announced the 2022 John R. Wooden Award® Presented by Wendy's® All American Team™ on ESPNU today. The Wooden Award All American Team is comprised of ten student-athletes who were the top vote-getters in the quest to earn college basketball's most prestigious honor. The ten-player team, alphabetically, consists of:
 
Ochai Agbaji (Kansas)
 Kofi Cockburn (Illinois)
Johnny Davis (Wisconsin)
Chet Holmgren (Gonzaga)
 Jaden Ivey (Purdue)
Bennedict Mathurin (Arizona)
Keegan Murray (Iowa)
Jabari Smith (Auburn)
Drew Timme (Gonzaga)
Oscar Tshiebwe (Kentucky)
 
The five finalists for the 2022 John R. Wooden Award Presented by Wendy's Men's Player of the Year are: Ochai Agbaji, Johnny Davis, Keegan Murray, Drew Timme, and Oscar Tshiebwe. All five players have been invited to Los Angeles for the 46th annual presentation of the John R. Wooden Award Presented by Wendy's Gala.
 
Mathurin was a consensus all-American this season and was named Pac-12 Player of the Year in addition to Most Outstanding Player of the Pac-12 Tournament. He averaged 17.7 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. His 655 points scored this season rank as the ninth-most in Arizona history as he shot 45% from the floor and 36.9% from the 3-point line. He increased his production in the postseason, averaging 20.0 points across the Pac-12 Tournament and the NCAA Tournament.
 
Voting took place from March 14-21, 2022. As insisted upon by Coach Wooden at the Award's creation 45 years ago, all players were certified by their universities as meeting or exceeding the criteria of the John R. Wooden Award. The 46th annual John R. Wooden Award Presented by Wendy's Men's Player of the Year will be announced on Tuesday, April 5th on SportsCenter on ESPN. The John R. Wooden Award Presented by Wendy's Gala will honor the Men's and Women's Wooden Award winners, and will include the presentation of the Wooden Award All American Teams and the Legends of Coaching Award, this year given to Rick Byrd. The Gala will take place at the Los Angeles Athletic Club on Friday, April 8th.
 
About the John R. Wooden Award
Created in 1976, the John R. Wooden Award Program hosts the most prestigious honors in college basketball recognizing the Wooden Award Most Outstanding Player for men and women, the Wooden Award All American Teams for men and women and the annual selection of the Wooden Award Legends of Coaching recipient. Honorees have proven to their university that they meet or exceed the qualifications of the John R. Wooden Award as set forth by Coach Wooden and the Wooden Award Steering Committee, including making progress towards graduation and maintaining at least a 2.0 cumulative GPA. Previous winners include Larry Bird ('79), Michael Jordan ('84), Tim Duncan ('97), Kevin Durant ('07), Candace Parker ('07; '08), Maya Moore ('09; '11), Chiney Ogwumike ('14), Breanna Stewart ('15 and '16) and last year's recipients, Paige Bueckers of Connecticut and Luka Garza of Iowa.
 
Since its inception, the John R. Wooden Award has contributed nearly one million dollars to the universities' general scholarship fund in the names of the Wooden Award All American recipients and has sent more than 1,000 underprivileged children to week-long college basketball camps. Additionally, the John R. Wooden Award partners with the Special Olympics Southern California (SOSC) each year to host the Wooden Award Special Olympics Southern California Basketball Tournament. The day-long tournament brings together Special Olympics athletes and Wooden Award All Americans and coaches in attendance. It is hosted at the Los Angeles Athletic Club during the John R. Wooden Award Weekend.