(AP) – Michigan won three of the top four Associated Press Big Ten men’s basketball awards Tuesday, with Yaxel Lendeborg voted player of the year and top first-year transfer and Dusty May named coach of the year.
Illinois’ Keaton Wagler was the unanimous choice for freshman of the year in voting by a panel of 16 media members who cover the Big Ten.
Lendeborg polished what already was a strong all-around game after transferring from UAB and led the third-ranked Wolverines to their first conference regular-season championship since 2021. He finished the regular season with one of his best outings, scoring 27 points and tying his career high with five 3-pointers in a 90-80 win over Michigan State on Sunday.
Lendeborg is averaging 14.7 points, 7.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game and has become a willing 3-point shooter. He also leads the Wolverines in steals and guards multiple positions.
May has built on an outstanding first season at Michigan. The Wolverines won 27 games and the Big Ten Tournament title last year and reached the Sweet 16. This season they sit 29-2 and well-positioned to make a run at the school’s first national championship since 1989.
Wagler entered the season under the radar among incoming freshmen. Though he was the state high school player of the year in Kansas, he was not seriously recruited by Kansas or even Kansas State. The nation knows Wagler now. He averages a team-best 17.9 points and 4.3 assists per game and shoots 41% on 3s and 81% on free throws. He scored the most points by a Big Ten freshman over the last 30 years with 46 against Purdue.
Purdue’s Braden Smith is an AP All-Big Ten first-team selection for a third straight year. He is joined on the first team by Michigan State’s Jeremy Fears Jr., Northwestern’s Nick Martinelli, Wagler and Lendeborg, who was a unanimous first-team pick.
Smith averages 14.9 points to lead the Boilermakers and his 8.7 assists per game rank second nationally behind Fears’ 9.1. Smith is the only player in NCAA history to have at least 1,800 points and 1,000 assists, and he has three of the top five single-season assist totals in conference games in Big Ten history.
Fears has been the catalyst for Michigan State, having scored in double figures each of the last 19 games and in 25 of 37 for his career. His 281 assists are second-most in a single season in MSU history.
Martinelli is one of the most prolific scorers in Northwestern history and is on track to lead the Big Ten in scoring for the second straight season. He averages 22.7 points per game, the highest by a Northwestern player since 1969-70, and is shooting 50.1% from the field.
First team
Guard — Keaton Wagler, Illinois, Fr., 6-6, 185, Shawnee, Kansas.
Guard — Braden Smith, Purdue, Sr., 6-0, 170, Westfield, Indiana.
Guard — Jeremy Fears Jr., Michigan State, So., 6-2, 190, Joliet, Illinois.
u-Forward — Yaxel Lendeborg, Michigan, Gr., 6-9, 240, Pennsauken, New Jersey.
Forward — Nick Martinelli, Northwestern, Sr., 6-7, 225, Glenview, Illinois.
Second team
Guard — Bennett Stirtz, Iowa, Sr., 6-4, 190, Liberty, Missouri.
Guard — Bruce Thornton, Ohio State, Sr., 6-2, 215, Fairburn, Georgia.
Guard — Nick Boyd, Wisconsin, Sr., 6-3, 177, Garnerville, New York.
Forward — Pryce Sandfort, Nebraska, Jr., 6-7, 210, Waukee, Iowa.
Forward — Hannes Steinbach, Washington, Fr., 6-11, NA, Würzburg, Germany.
Individual honors
Coach of the year — Dusty May, Michigan.
Player of the year — Yaxel Lendeborg, Michigan.
u-Freshman of the year — Keaton Wagler, Illinois.
First-year transfer of the year — Yaxel Lendeborg, Michigan.
“u” — unanimous pick.
Voting panel
Nick Bahe, Fox Sports; Mike DeCourcy, Sporting News, Fox Sports; Dave Eanet, WGN Radio (Chicago); Brian Fonseca, New Jersey Advance Media; Andy Greder, St. Paul (Minnesota) Pioneer Press; Aaron Heisen, Southern California News Group; Madison Hricik, Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Gazette; Adam Jardy, Columbus Dispatch; Andrew Kahn, MLive.com (Ann Arbor, Michigan); Michael McCleary, Wisconsin State Journal (Madison, Wisconsin); Wilson Moore, Omaha (Nebraska) World-Herald; Dave Preston, WTOP Radio (Washington, D.C.); Scott Richey, Champaign (Illinois) News-Gazette; Haley Sawyer, Orange County (California) Register; Owen Siebring, KGAN-TV (Cedar Rapids, Iowa); Dylan Sinn, Fort Wayne (Indiana) Journal Gazette.
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