WSU’s DaVonte Lacy, Josh Hawkinson collect awards from Pac-12

PULLMAN – The Pac-12 men’s basketball coaches voted Washington State senior guard DaVonte Lacy first-team All-Conference and named Josh Hawkinson’s the conference’s Most Improved Player, it was announced on Monday.

Hawkinson was not named to the 10-member first-team or five-member second team, despite being the only Pac-12 player to average a double-double with 14.7 points and 10.8 rebounds per game. Instead, the sophomore received honorable mention

The coaches voted Oregon’s Joseph Young  the Player of the Year and named UO’s Dana Altman the Coach of the Year after the pair guided the Ducks to a No. 2 finish after a preseason ranking of eighth in the Pac-12 media poll.

Arizona’s Stanley Johnson was named Freshman of the Year while Oregon State guard Gary Payton II was named Defensive Player of the Year, an award his father won for the Beavers in 1987.

Lacy, a native of Tacoma, became WSU’s all-time 3-point leader this season, passing Klay Thompson and finishing the regular season with 249 3-pointers in his career. 

Lacy is averaging 17.2 points per game, fourth in the conference, and also ranks in the top-five in made free throws (No. 2, 140), 3-pointers made per game (No. 4, 3.3) and he ranks 10th with a free-throw percentage of 77.3.

Hawkinson was an obvious choice for Most Improved Player – his points per game improvement of 13.5 is the second-most nationally and his improvement in rebounds per game – 9.2 more than last season – is greater than that of any other player. Hawkinson is tied with Ed Werner for the school’s single-season rebounding record of 323 and has the school single-season record for double-doubles with 19.

Brock Motum became the school’s first Most Improved award-winner in 2012. That was also the last time the Cougars placed someone on the conference’s first team. Lacy is the 19th Cougar honored. In all, they have collected 23 first-team honors.