Johnson Named to National Ballot for John R. Wooden Award

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Senior Keyontae Johnson was among 15 players selected to the national ballot for the John R. Wooden Award presented by Wendy’s by the Wooden Award National Advisory Board and the Los Angeles Athletic Club on Saturday morning (March 4).

The announcement was made on ESPN’s College GameDay on Saturday morning.

The national ballot consists of 15 players who are candidates for the Wooden Award All-American Team and Wooden Award Trophy as the most outstanding college basketball player.

Johnson was joined on the list by fellow Big 12 players – TCU’s Mike Miles Jr. and Kansas’ Jalen Wilson – along with North Carolina’s Armando Bacot, Detroit Mercy’s Antonie Davis, Purdue’s Zach Edey, Indiana’s Trayce Jackson-Davis, UCLA’s Jaime Jaquez Jr., Iowa’s Kris Murray, Penn State’s Jalen Pickett, Houston’s Marcus Sasser, Gonzaga’s Drew Timme, Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebewe, Arizona’s Azuolas Tubelis and Miami’s Isaiah Wong.

Voting will take place from March 13-20 with the finalists for the 2023 Wooden Award announced on March 29.

Johnson, along with teammate Markquis Nowell, were named to Midseason Watch Lists for the Oscar Robertson Trophy, John R. Wooden Award and the Naismith Award presented by Jersey Mike’s. He is a 5-time winner of the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week, including this past week when he averaged 21 points in wins over No. 9/10 Baylor and Oklahoma State. It is most weekly awards by a Wildcat since Michael Beasley in 2008.

A 6-foot-6, 230-pound forward from Norfolk, Va., Johnson is currently averaging a team-best 17.6 points on 52.2 percent (193-of-370) from the field, including 42.2 percent (38-of-90) from 3-point range, and 72.5 percent (103-of-142) from the free throw line, to go with a team-best 7.1 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.2 steals in 34 minutes per game. He is one of only two players (Kansas’ Jalen Wilson) to rank in the top-5 in the Big 12 in scoring and rebounding both in overall and league-only games.

No. 11/11 K-State (23-7, 11-6 Big 12) concludes the regular season this afternoon when the Wildcats play West Virginia (17-13, 6-11 Big 12) at 1 p.m., CT at the WVU Coliseum. The game will air on Big 12 Now.

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