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Gonzaga Basketball

Gonzaga’s Drew Timme earns Karl Malone power forward of the year honors

Gonzaga forward Drew Timme rips down a rebound against Northwestern State on Dec. 22 in the McCarthey Athletic Center. (Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review)
By Jim Meehan jimm@spokesman.com(509) 459-5585

Gonzaga sophomore Drew Timme on Saturday was named the Karl Malone power forward of the year, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced.

Gonzaga is the third program in the seven-year history of the Naismith awards to have two winners in the same season. Corey Kispert was named the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year. GU joins Duke in 2019 (RJ Barrett and Zion Williamson) and Villanova in 2018 (Jalen Brunson) and (Mikal Bridges). 

Timme, a 6-foot-10, 235-pound forward from Dallas, Texas, paces the team and the WCC in scoring (19.0), just ahead of Kispert (18.9). Timme has connected on 65% of his field-goal attempts, tops in the conference. He’s made 67% on 2-pointers.

Timme has scored in double figures in Gonzaga’s last 21 games and 29 of 30 overall. He had a career-high 30 points in a second-round win over Oklahoma, bettering his previous high of 29 vs. Virginia.

Timme leads Gonzaga in rebounding (7.2), just in front of Joel Ayayi’s 7.1, and blocks (21). Timme is fourth in assists with 70.

Timme has scored 85 points in Gonzaga’s first four NCAA Tournament games. 

Timme was named second-team All-America by the Associated Press, National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA).

The other finalists for the ward were Indiana’s Trayce Jackson-Davis, Pittsburgh’s Justin Champagnie, Seton Hall’s Sandro Mamukelashvili and Villanova’s Jeremiah Robinson-Earl.