IU men’s basketball senior forward Trayce Jackson-Davis was one of 10 players named to the John R. Wooden Award All-America Team, presented annually by the Los Angeles Athletic Club, on Thursday. He also is one of five finalists for its Men’s Player of the Year Award.
Senior women’s forward Mackenzie Holmes has also been named to the 2023 John R. Wooden Award All-American team. The women’s Wooden Award All American Team is comprised of five student-athletes who were the top vote-getters in the quest to earn college basketball’s most prestigious honor.
As insisted upon by Coach Wooden at the award’s creation 46 years ago, all players were certified by their universities as meeting or exceeding the criteria of the John R. Wooden Award.
The men’s and women’s awards will be announced on ESPN on April 4th and 3rd, respectively.
The John R. Wooden Award 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 Dawn Staley. The Gala will take place at the Los Angeles Athletic Club on Friday, April 7th.
Jackson-Davis, already a consensus All-America First Team selection, started 32 games this season and averaged 20.9 points, 10.8 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 2.9 blocks per game. He is the first Division I men’s basketball player to average at least 20.0 points, 10.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 2.0 blocks in a season in over 25 years. He led the Hoosiers in all four categories while also shooting 58.2% (262-of-450) from the floor and 69.5% (146-of-210) from the free throw line.
TJD has previously been honored as an All-America First Team player by the Associated Press, NABC, Sporting News, and USBWA. He was honored as a unanimous All-Big Ten First Team selection by both the coaches and the media and was tabbed to the All-Big Ten Defensive Team. Jackson-Davis was named Big Ten Player of the Week on five occasions during his senior campaign.
Jackson-Davis finished his Hoosier career third on the all-time program list for career points (2,258) and double-doubles (50). He holds the school record in both career rebounds (1,143) and blocked shots (270). TJD became the fifth player in Big Ten men’s basketball history to amass 2,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds.
He compiled 11 career 30-point games, 24 games with at least 20 points and 10 rebounds, and 112 games with at least 10 points scored. He blocked at least one shot in 105 games and owns 78 multi-block games to his credit. He averaged 17.9 points, 9.1 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks per game over his four seasons with the Cream and Crimson.
Jackson-Davis is the 12th Hoosier to be named a Wooden Award All-American. He joins Steve Alford (1986, 87), Damon Bailey (1994), Kent Benson (1977), Calbert Cheaney (1992, 93), Jay Edwards (1989), Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell (2016), A.J. Guyton (2000), Jared Jeffries (2002), Victor Oladipo (2013), Isiah Thomas (1981), and Cody Zeller (2013).
Cheaney (1993) is the only Hoosier to earn its Men’s Player of the Year accolade since the inception of the award in 1977.
The five-player women’s team, alphabetically, consists of: Aliyah Boston (South Carolina), Cameron Brink (Stanford), Caitlin Clark (Iowa), Mackenzie Holmes (Indiana), and Maddy Siegrist (Villanova). All five players have been invited to Los Angeles for the 47th annual presentation for the 47th annual presentation of the John R. Wooden Award presented by Wendy’s Gala.
Holmes averaged a team-high 22.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, 1.9 blocks and is one of the nation’s most accurate shooters by going 68.0 percent from the floor. She is second in the nation and leading the Big Ten in field goal percentage, fifth in field goals made (281), sixth in points scored (692), and seventh in points per game (22.3).
Holmes led the Hoosiers in scoring on 25 occasions this season while posting double figures in 31 games, scoring 20 points 19 times and three 30-point scoring efforts. Her nine double-doubles led the team, as six of her double-doubles occurred in conference play which ranks eighth all-time in a single season. She led the league in blocks (58) and blocks per game (1.9) and averages 1.1 steals (35) per game. She set a season-high five blocks against Nebraska and Michigan while recording multiple blocks in 14 games.
Holmes is now in the top five in scoring in school history (1,897) and second in all-time blocks (208).
Other awards for Holmes this season included the program’s first Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and is now a three-time All-Big Ten selection in her career. She has also been named a 2023 Lisa Leslie Award finalist, a 2023 Wade Trophy finalist, 2023 Jersey Mike’s Naismith Trophy and 2023 USBWA Ann Meyers Drysdale Player of the Year.
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