St. John’s Zuby Ejiofor is AP’s Big East player of year. Seton Hall’s Holloway is coach of the year
St. John’s has the Associated Press’ Big East player of the year for a second straight season.
Zuby Ejiofor earned the honor from a 14-person media panel after leading the 13th-ranked Red Storm to a second straight Big East regular-season title. The 6-foot-7 forward is averaging 16 points, 7.1 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 2 blocks and 1.2 steals.
Ejiofor, the lone unanimous first-team all-Big East selection, was a near-unanimous pick for player of the year. He also earned first-team all-Big East honors from the AP last season. RJ Luis was the AP’s 2024-25 Big East player of the year after leading St. John’s to its first outright regular-season conference title since 1985.
Seton Hall’s Shaheen Holloway was named coach of the year. Marquette’s Nigel James Jr. is freshman of the year, and UConn’s Silas Demary Jr. is the transfer newcomer of the year.
Demary has averaged 11.1 points, 6.5 assists and 4.5 rebounds in his first season at UConn after playing two years at Georgia.
While St. John’s had the conference’s player of the year, the all-Big East team otherwise was dominated by No. 6 UConn, which finished a game behind the Red Storm in the league standings.
UConn has three first-team all-conference players: Demary, Alex Karaban and Tarris Reed Jr. Karaban, a second-team selection last year, has 12.9 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. Reed has averaged 13.8 points, 8 rebounds and 2.1 blocks. Butler’s Michael Ajayi was the other first-team selection.
The second team includes James as well as Tre Carroll of Xavier, Budd Clark of Seton Hall, Bryce Hopkins of St. John’s and Jaylin Sellers of Providence.
Villanova, which finished third in the Big East standings, didn’t have anyone selected. Wildcats teammates Acaden Lewis and Tyler Perkins received the highest vote totals of anyone who didn’t earn all-conference honors. Kevin Willard of Villanova finished second in the coach of the year voting.
Holloway earned coach of the year honors by leading Seton Hall to a 20-11 mark a year after a 7-25 finish. Holloway got eight votes, while Willard received the other six.
James, who has 16.4 points and 4.8 assists per game, edged Lewis in freshman of the year balloting by a single vote. James was the first Big East freshman since Notre Dame’s Troy Murphy in 1998-99 to score 30-plus points in at least three regular-season conference games.
Demary received eight votes for transfer newcomer of the year. Ajayi got four votes and Carroll had two.
Ajayi has averaged a double-double with 16.3 points and 11.1 rebounds per game with Butler this year after previously playing for Pepperdine and Gonzaga. Carroll, a bench player on Florida Atlantic’s 2023 Final Four team, has scored 18 points per game this season for Xavier.
First team
Guard — Silas Demary Jr., UConn, Jr., 6-4, 195, Raleigh, North Carolina
Forward — Michael Ajayi, Butler, Sr., 6-7, 235, Kent, Washington
u-Forward — Zuby Ejiofor, St. John’s, Sr., 6-9, 245, Garland, Texas
Forward — Alex Karaban, UConn, R-Sr., 6-8, 230, Southborough, Massachusetts
Center — Tarris Reed Jr., UConn, Sr., 6-11, 265, St. Louis, Missouri
Second team
Guard — Budd Clark, Seton Hall, Jr., 5-10, 165, Philadelphia
Guard — Nigel James Jr., Marquette, Fr., 6-0, 190, Huntington, New York
Guard — Jaylin Sellers, Providence, Gr., 6-5, 205, Columbus, Georgia
Guard/Forward — Bryce Hopkins, St. John’s, Jr., 6-7, 225, Oak Park, Illinois
Forward — Tre Carroll, Xavier, Gr., 6-8, 235, Port Charlotte, Florida
Individual honors
Coach of the year — Shaheen Holloway, Seton Hall
Player of the year — Zuby Ejiofor, St. John’s
Freshman of the year — Nigel James Jr., Marquette
Transfer newcomer of the year — Silas Demary Jr. UConn
“u” — unanimous pick.
Voting panel
Joseph Arruda, Hartford (Connecticut) Courant; David Borges, CT Insider; Zach Braziller, New York Post; John Fanta, Fox Sports; Kevin McNamara, WPRO, Providence, Rhode Island; Jeff Neiburg, The Philadelphia Inquirer; Steve Newhouse, WeAreDePaul, 247Sports; Dave Preston, WTOP, Washington; Roger Rubin, Newsday; Richard Skinner, WKRC, Cincinnati; Tim Van Vooren, Fox6, Milwaukee; Jon Walker, Omaha (Nebraska) World-Herald; Chris Widlic, WTTV CBS4, Indianapolis; Adam Zagoria, NJ Advance Media
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