Evans, Smith, Beard Headline Big 12 Honors

IRVING, Texas – Keenan Evans secured All-Big 12 First-Team honors, Zhaire Smith collected three All-Big 12 accolades and Chris Beard shared the Big 12 Coach of the Year announced Sunday by the conference office and selected by the league coaches.

Evans is the first Texas Tech player since former All-American Jarrius Jackson to garner an All-Big 12 First-Team pick. He has worked his way to 17.4 points, 3.3 assists and 1.3 steals per game. The 17.4 points per game are third on the Big 12 leaderboard. Evans has piled up five of his 10 games of 20 or more points since Jan. 23. He also is a finalist for the Bob Cousy award, the John R. Wooden award and the Citizen Naismith trophy.

Smith has had an impressive freshmen campaign en route to All-Big 12 Honorable Mention, All-Big 12 Newcomer Team and All-Big 12 Defensive Team. He is the first freshmen in program history to be named to a major All-Big 12 team. Smith posted 11.5 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 1.1 blocks and 1.1 steals per game. He has tucked away double figures in nine straight games and 22 of his last 26 outings.

Beard guided the Red Raiders to a 23-9 record, the program's highest regular season win total since the 1995-96 season. Texas Tech secured the program's highest Big 12 regular season finish and the No. 2 seed at this week's Phillips 66 Big 12 Championships. The Red Raiders have been ranked a consensus Top 15 program for the last eight weeks highlighted by a No. 6 ranking in the Associated Press poll on Feb. 19 which was the highest ranking in program history.

2017-18 All-Big 12 Awards
Player of the Year: Devonte' Graham, Kansas
Defensive Player of the Year: Jevon Carter, West Virginia
Freshman of the Year: Trae Young, Oklahoma
Newcomer of the Year: Malik Newman, Kansas
Sixth Man Award: Terry Maston, Baylor
Co-Coach of the Year: Chris Beard, Texas Tech and Bill Self, Kansas

All-Big 12 First Team
Jevon Carter, West Virginia **
Keenan Evans, Texas Tech **
Devonte' Graham, Kansas **
Trae Young, Oklahoma **
Dean Wade, Kansas State

All-Big 12 Second Team
Barry Brown, Jr., Kansas State
Mohamed Bamba, Texas
Manu Lecomte, Baylor
Svi Mykhailiuk, Kansas
Kenrich Williams, TCU

All-Big 12 Third Team
Udoka Azubuike, Kansas
Vladimir Brodziansky, TCU
Jeffrey Carroll, Oklahoma State
Sagaba Konate, West Virginia
Jo Lual-Acuil, Jr., Baylor

All-Big 12 Honorable Mention – Listed alphabetically by school
Donovan Jackson (Iowa State), Cameron Lard (Iowa State), Lindell Wigginton (Iowa State), Lagerald Vick (Kansas), Matt Coleman (Texas), Dylan Osetkowski (Texas), Kerwin Roach II (Texas), Zhaire Smith (Texas Tech)

Big 12 All-Defensive Team
Mohamed Bamba, Texas **
Barry Brown, Jr., Kansas State
Jevon Carter, West Virginia **
Sagaba Konate, West Virginia
Zhaire Smith, Texas Tech

Big 12 All-Newcomer Team
Mohamed Bamba, Texas
Malik Newman, Kansas
Zhaire Smith, Texas Tech
Lindell Wigginton, Iowa State
Trae Young, Oklahoma **

** - Unanimous selection

UP NEXT

Texas Tech will await the winner of the Texas-Iowa State game in Thursday's quarterfinal round at the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championships. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. CT from the Sprint Center in Kansas City. The game will be televised by either ESPN or ESPN2 along with the ESPN app.

Visit www.TexasTech.com for the latest news and information on the men's basketball program. Fans also can follow the program on its social media outlets by liking TexasTechMBB on Facebook along with following @TexasTechMBB on Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat.

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Evans, Smith, Beard Headline Big 12 Honors

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