Kansas redshirt freshman Ben McLemore was named to the U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) Freshman All-America Team announced Wednesday.

The team consisted of five freshmen and McLemore was joined by Anthony Bennett (UNLV), Shabazz Muhammad (UCLA), Nerlens Noel (Kentucky) and Marcus Smart (Oklahoma State). Smart was named the Wayman Tisdale Freshman of the Year by the USBWA.

McLemore leads Kansas in scoring at 16.7 points per game, which leads all Big 12 freshmen and ranks second overall in the conference. Against West Virginia, McLemore broke the Kansas freshman record for points in a game with 36 and he is the only freshman in KU history to have three 30-point games. The Jan. 14 Big 12 Player of the Week and three-time conference Rookie of the Week, McLemore leads the league in free throw percentage (86.3) and is second in the Big 12 in three-point field goal percentage (43.4). McLemore has a team-high 62 three-pointers made and is tied for second on the team with 35 steals.

Kansas (26-5, 14-4) enter the 2013 Phillips 66 Big 12 Men’s Basketball Championship as the No. 1 seed after winning its ninth-straight, 13th overall and NCAA-leading 56th conference regular-season title. The Jayhawks tied Kansas State for the 2013 title. KU will face either No. 8 West Virginia or No. 9 Texas Tech in the quarterfinals of the event on Thursday, March 14, at 2 p.m. WVU and TTU play March 13 at 6 p.m. The event will be held at Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo.

— KU Sports Information —