BIG EAST Names Regular Season Award Winners as Conference Tourney Tips-Off at The Garden
NEW YORK – (Staff Report from Official News Release) – Marquette guard Tyler Kolek was named BIG EAST Player of the Year. Kolek’s coach, Shaka Smart, was voted unanimously as BIG EAST Coach of the Year and Villanova forward Cam Whitmore was selected BIG EAST Freshman of the Year.
The conference’s head coaches make the selections and are not permitted to vote for their own players. The awards will be presented at Madison Square Garden prior to the start of the 2023 BIG EAST Tournament Presented by JEEP. It is the 41st consecutive year the BIG EAST is playing its postseason tournament at the World’s Most Famous Arena.
Smart’s honor is the first for Marquette in 18 years as a member of the BIG EAST. Both were instrumental in leading the Golden Eagles to their first BIG EAST outright regular-season title. Marquette enters the BIG EAST Tournament as the No. 1 seed after compiling a 17-3 conference record. The Golden Eagles were picked ninth in the preseason coaches’ poll.
Kolek is MU’s maestro point guard, averaging 12.7 points and a league-leading 7.9 assists, which ranks second nationally. The 6-3 junior from Cumberland, R.I., ranks first in assist/turnover ratio at 3.3., which places him sixth in the nation. He is fifth in the BIG EAST in steals at 1.8 and ninth in free throw shooting, making 81.4 percent. Kolek is one of five finalists for the Bob Cousy Award as the nation’s top point guard.
Smart’s squad made the biggest leap in league history, jumping from ninth in the preseason coaches’ poll to outright regular-season champion. The Golden Eagles are expected to receive a high seed in the NCAA Tournament. In his second season at Marquette, Smart has directed the Golden Eagles to a 44-19 overall record and a 28-11 BIG EAST mark. He owns a career record of 316-161 (.662) in 14 seasons as a head coach.
Shaka Smart
Whitmore leads all BIG EAST freshmen with a 12.7 scoring average. The 6-7 native of Odenton, Md., is also averaging 5.1 rebounds. He missed the first seven games of the season with a thumb injury on his shooting hand. Whitmore was a unanimous choice for the BIG EAST All-Freshman Team and was named BIG EAST Freshman of the Week four times. His season scoring high was 29 points against Xavier on Jan. 7. Whitmore is the third Villanova player to earn Freshman of the Year honors in the last six seasons. Jeremiah Robinson-Earl won in 2019-20 and Omari Spellman won in 2017-18.
Tyler Kolek, MarquetteBIG EAST Coach of the Year
Shaka Smart, MarquetteBIG EAST Freshman of the Year
Cam Whitmore, Villanova
Xavier forward Jack Nunge was named BIG EAST Men’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year. The selection was made by the Conference’s Academic Affairs Committee. Nunge will receive a $2,000 scholarship, which may be applied to graduate or professional studies.
Nunge, a graduate student, has compiled a 3.97 graduate GPA in the Xavier MBA program after a 3.35 GPA as an undergraduate in Accounting. In addition to his academic work, Nunge has participated in Xavier Special Olympics. He is a member of the Xavier Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).
On the court, Nunge has played a critical role in helping the Musketeers to a 23-8 overall record and a 15-5 BIG EAST mark. The native of Newburgh, Ind., is averaging 14.0 points and ranks fourth in the BIG EAST in rebounding with a 7.7 mark. He is shooting 51.2 percent from the field and 41.2 percent from 3-point range. Xavier will be the No. 2 seed at this week’s BIG EAST Tournament.
The BIG EAST Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year award is one of a number of scholarships presented by the BIG EAST Conference during the 2022-23 academic year. In addition, 22 student-athletes (one male and one female from each of the BIG EAST’s 11 member institutions) will receive postgraduate scholarships as the winners of their respective institutions’ Scholar-Athlete Award. The winners of the institutional and basketball awards are then eligible for the BIG EAST Scholar-Athlete of the Year award, which provides an additional postgraduate scholarship to one male and one female student-athlete.
The Conference previously announced winners of four individual awards for its 2022-23 men’s basketball season.
For the second year in a row, Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner has been named BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year. Joel Soriano of St. John’s has been selected BIG EAST Most Improved Player. David Joplin of Marquette has won the BIG EAST Sixth Man Award. Villanova’s Caleb Daniels has been tabbed the winner of the BIG EAST Sportsmanship Award.
The league’s head coaches make the selections and they are not permitted to vote for their own players. The BIG EAST will announce the remaining individual awards: BIG EAST Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Men’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete on Wednesday, March 8, at 12:30 p.m. ET at Madison Square Garden.
Kalkbrenner, a 7-1 junior center from Florissant, Mo., has been the leader of a Creighton squad that has excelled on the defensive end of the floor for the last two seasons. This year, he leads the BIG EAST in blocked shots with a 2.2 average which ranks 18th nationally. His defensive presence has contributed to the Bluejays leading the league in scoring defense in league games, yielding only 67.2 points per game. Kalkbrenner is an All-BIG EAST First Team selection. The last time a player repeated as Defensive Player was 2016-17 and ’17-18 when former Creighton standout guard Khyri Thomas earned the award.
Soriano, a 6-11 senior from Yonkers, N.Y., has made significant leaps across the board for St. John’s. The veteran center is averaging 15.3 points and a league-leading 11.8 rebounds. Soriano also is tied for first nationally in double-doubles with 23. Last year, Soriano had only one double-double. His double-double total is second only to former great Walter Berry’s 28 in 1985-86. He is the first St. John’s player to be the BIG EAST rebounding champion in league games with an 11.5 mark. In his first three seasons combined, Soriano scored 481 points. This year, he has 472.
Marquette’s Joplin has come off the bench in each of the team’s 31 games, averaging 19.1 minutes per game. The 6-7 sophomore from Milwaukee, Wis., has made important contributions to MU’s regular-season title run. He is fifth on the team in scoring with a 9.2 average and grabs 3.4 rebounds per contest. Joplin ranks second on the team in free throw shooting, making 80.5 percent. He notched his career scoring high with 28 points in only 24 minutes in an 89-69 victory at DePaul on Jan. 28. He made five steals in the title-clinching 72-56 victory at Butler on Feb. 28.
Villanova’s Daniels has been the steady and classy leader for the Wildcats. He is second on the team in scoring with a 14.6 average and is first on the team with 71 made 3-pointers. A native of New Orleans, La., Daniels is also a reliable free throw shooter. He has connected on 85.3 percent, which ranks fifth in the BIG EAST. Daniels leads the Wildcats in minutes played, averaging 33.6 per game.
BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year
Ryan Kalkbrenner, Creighton
BIG EAST Most Improved Player
Joel Soriano, St. John’s
BIG EAST Sixth Man Award
David Joplin, Marquette
BIG EAST Sportsmanship Award
Caleb Daniels, Villanova