MANHATTAN, Kan. (K-State Athletics) – Senior Keyontae Johnson was selected as a finalist for the 2023 Julius Erving Small Forward Award by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame on Wednesday (March 8).
The award, which annually honors the top small forward in Division I men’s basketball, is named after the 4-time MVP and 16-year pro Julius Erving, who was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1993.
Johnson was chosen as a finalist for the award, along with Alabama’s Brandon Miller, Gonzaga’s Julian Strawther, Kansas’ Jalen Wilson and UCLA’s Jaime Jaquez Jr.
K-State fans can support Johnson’s candidacy for the award by participating in Fan Voting presented by Dell Technologies starting on Friday on hoophallawards.com. The Fan Vote will count as one committee vote during the finalist selection process. The winner being announced in April.
Johnson continues to add honors for his outstanding senior season. He was selected to various Midseason Watch Lists for National Player of the Year, including the Oscar Robertson Trophy and the Naismith Award presented by Jersey Mike’s, while he was recently named one of 15 players to the national ballot for the John R. Wooden Award.
Earlier this week, Johnson was chosen as the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year as well as All-Big 12 First Team by both the league coaches and AP. He is the 13th Wildcat since 1970 to be voted as the league’s Newcomer of the Year and the second in the Big 12 era, joining Denis Clemente in 2009.
A 6-foot-6, 230-pound forward from Norfolk, Va., Johnson is currently averaging a team-best 17.8 points on 51.9 percent (203-of-391) from the field, including 42.4 percent (42-of-99) from 3-point range, and 72.5 percent (103-of-142) from the free throw line, to go with a team-best 7.0 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.
K-State has clinched a bye to the quarterfinals of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship as the No. 3 seed and will play No. 6 seed and No. 22/22 TCU (20-11, 9-9 Big 12) at 8:30 p.m., CT on Thursday, March 9. The tournament begins Wednesday, March 8 with two first-round games.
