Marquette’s Nigel James Jr. has captured one Big East freshman of the year award … and looks to win another.
The 6-foot James won the Associated Press’ honor on March 10 in a media panel of 14 people. The conference will announce its awards, which are voted on by the league’s coaches, at Madison Square Garden in New York on March 11.
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James averaged 16.4 points and 4.8 assists per game. He is the first Big East freshman since Notre Dame’s Troy Murphy in 1998-99 to score 30 or more points in three regular-season league games.
James won the award by one vote over Villanova’s Acaden Lewis.
St. John’s big man Zuby Ejiofor was voted AP’s Big East player of the year. Seton Hall’s Shaheen Holloway was coach of the year and Connecticut’s Silas Demary Jr. was transfer newcomer of the year.
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Ejiofor was joined on the AP’s all-conference team by UConn’s Demary, Alex Karaban and Tarris Reed and Butler’s Michael Ajayi.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Marquette’s Nigel James Jr. is AP’s Big East freshman of the year
