WCC Men’s Basketball Awards: Toolson, Childs, Haws Earn All-WCC Honors

Jake Toolson was named the WCC Newcomer of the Year, and Toolson, Yoeli Childs, and TJ Haws were named to the All-WCC First Team after leading BYU to their first top-25 ranking in 9 years. The trio also led the Cougars to 13 conference victories and their highest win percentage in conference since joining the WCC.

Toolson is the first player from BYU to win the Newcomer of the Year award, and Yoeli Childs is the 10th Cougar to be named to the all-conference first team in 3 separate years. Childs had a very strong case to win WCC Player of the Year, but that honor went to Gonzaga’s Filip Petrusev. Childs led the WCC in scoring (22.7), and was second in rebounding (8.5). He led Petrusev in almost every statistical category except games played.

Another Cougar who was just barely edged out of an award is head coach Mark Pope. Pope did a tremendous job retooling and revamping this squad on the fly, and had a very strong case for WCC Coach of the Year. The award was given to Pacific’s Damon Stoudamire who, in his own right, has done an excellent job dealing with his own hardships and carrying Pacific into the top half of the league.

The 3 BYU players are joined on the All-WCC First team by Gonzaga’s Corey Kispert, Filip Petrusev, and Killian Tillie; Malik Fitts and Jordan Ford from Saint Mary’s; Colbey Ross from Pepperdine; and Pacific’s Jahlil Tripp, who was also named WCC Defensive Player of the Year.

wccsports.com

The WCC Tournament kicks off Thursday, March 5th. As the 2 seed, BYU has earned a bye until the semifinals, which will be played on Monday, March 9th. BYU is in the later time-slot, so their game will tip-off at approximately 9:30 pm MST.