Kansas freshman Joel Embiid has declared for the 2014 NBA Draft, the 7-0 center announced Wednesday in a formal press conference alongside head coach Bill Self at Allen Fieldhouse.

The 2014 Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, Embiid broke the KU freshman record for blocked shots with 72 and his 2.6 blocked shots per game finished second in the league. Named to the 2014 All-Big 12 Second Team, Embiid led KU with 8.1 rebounds per game – also a KU freshman record – and good for sixth in the Big 12.

“I just want to thank God first for giving me this opportunity to come to the (United States) and play ball,” Embiid said. “I want to thank the coaching staff, my teammates, the fans – everyone that’s helped me through my journey. After thinking a lot, I’ve decided to declare for the NBA Draft.”

The 7-0 Yaoundé, Cameroon, native averaged 11.2 points per game and his 62.6 field goal percentage broke yet another KU rookie record. Additionally, Embiid was named to the 2014 Freshman All-America Team, along with teammate Andrew Wiggins, by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA).

Embiid was a two-time Big 12 Newcomer of the Week – Dec. 2, 2013 and Jan. 20, 2014 – and was named the Wayman Tisdale National Freshman of the Week and CBSSports.com National Player of the Week on Jan. 21, 2014 after averaging a double-double with 14.5 points and 10.0 rebounds to go along with 13 blocked shots in KU victories against then-top-10 opponents Iowa State (1/13) and Oklahoma State (1/18). Included was a KU freshman-record eight blocked shots against OSU.

On March 10, Kansas announced that Embiid would miss the final two regular-season games and the Big 12 Championship due to a stress fracture in his lower back. He was sidelined from KU’s two NCAA Tournament contests, as well. The injury did not require surgery. Embiid has continued a rehabilitation program and is progressing as scheduled.

— KU Sports Information —

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Kansas freshman Andrew Wiggins made official Monday what he’s been telling folks all along: He’s headed to the NBA after his only season with the Jayhawks.

The 6-foot-8 forward, who was voted second-team All-America earlier in the day, is expected to go in the top three picks in the June draft. Many believe he could go first overall.

“It wasn’t an easy decision because the fans showed me so much love here,” said Wiggins, choking up briefly during a news conference at Allen Fieldhouse. “I just wish I had more time. College goes by so fast. I can see why people stay all four years.”

Wiggins was the top-rated recruit when he arrived at Kansas, and his brief career was a bit of a roller coaster. He struggled early in the season, caught fire midway through, and then flamed out when it mattered most in an NCAA tournament loss to Stanford.

Wiggins only scored four points on 1-for-6 shooting in the third-round defeat. Afterward, he said despondently that he let his team down with his poor performance.

That ultimately didn’t have any bearing on his decision, though. He announced he was going pro while joined by Kansas coach Bill Self, his parents — former NBA player Mitchell Wiggins and Olympic silver medalist Marita Payne Wiggins — his older brother Mitchell Jr., and several of his teammates, including fellow freshmen Wayne Selden Jr. and Joel Embiid.

Selden has already announced he’s returning for his sophomore season. Embiid has not made a decision, even though he’s also expected to be a top-five pick in the draft.

Wiggins certainly had a historic season at Kansas. The Canadian averaged a freshman-record 17.1 points and nearly six rebounds per game, and was voted the AP’s Big 12 freshman of the year and first-team all-conference.

“Obviously this announcement needed to happen,” said Self, who believes one of the biggest challenges Wiggins will face is realizing that basketball will suddenly become his job.

“It’s not like this year. He came in with so much hype, and whether he knew it or not, everybody was salivating for a chance to go against a guy with that much hype,” Self said. “And he’s going to the next level with a lot of hype, but men are going to be saying, `Whoa, whoa, whoa, rook. I’ve been doing this a long time and you’re going to have to earn your way.”

Wiggins simply flashed a smile when asked if he was ready for it.

“Just listening to him now,” his father said, “I’m thinking about when he was that little bitty kid that was dirty, and not listening, and now? He’s a young man that I think gets it. I think he’s going to do very well.”

He’s also made it through his freshman season healthy. Unlike Embiid, Wiggins never had to deal with any nagging injuries, and his mother said that factored into his decision.

“The best thing is he’s not injured. He’s able to go ahead and complete part of his goals,” she said. “Every day is a new day. He has no injuries and he’s ready to go.”

Self said Embiid is still wrestling with his stay-or-go decision.

The 7-footer from Cameroon was waylaid late in the season by a stress fracture in his back, and that could factor into Embiid’s draft status, along with the fact that he’s only been playing basketball for a few years.

Embiid slipped out of the room immediately after Wiggins had finished speaking Monday, but Self told a few reporters that he had not made his decision, despite a report last week that said Embiid would enter the draft.

“That doesn’t mean he couldn’t still do that, but that was gun-jumping,” Self said. “It certainly upset him, because somebody that was a source obviously didn’t have good information.”

Self doesn’t expect Embiid to make his intentions known anytime soon.

“The decision he needs to make is what’s best for him,” Self said, “whether to stay another year or to go, and I could see him do either one of them. And I think you could make a case that either one would be a good decision. He’s not quite like Andrew who’s been playing the game his whole life. He’s only been playing three years. He’s still trying to figure it out.”

— Associated Press —

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Kansas has scheduled a news conference Monday at Allen Fieldhouse with freshman star Andrew Wiggins and coach Bill Self.

Wiggins has already said he plans to enter the NBA draft, though Kansas would not say what the news will be.

The 6-foot-8 Wiggins led Kansas in scoring at 17.1 points per game and averaged 5.9 rebounds. The Canadian was the Big 12 freshman of the year and a first-team all-conference selection.

Wiggins is expected to be one of the top picks in the draft.

Fellow Kansas freshman Wayne Selden Jr. has already announced he will return to school. Freshman center Joel Embiid, who also has a chance to be the top overall pick, has yet to announce his plans.

— Associated Press —

Kansas freshman Andrew Wiggins was named to the 2014 National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) All-America Second Team, the NABC announced Tuesday.

Wiggins set the Kansas freshman single-season scoring record with 597 points, surpassing the 589 points by Ben McLemore set in 2012-13. The Vaughan, Ontario, Canada, guard, Wiggins had 11 games of 20 or more points during the 2013-14 season, including a KU freshman record 41 at West Virginia (3/8). Wiggins led Kansas in steals with 41 and tied for the team high in three-pointers made with 43. His 5.9 rebound average was third-best on the team and his 34 blocked shots were second-most for the Jayhawks.

Besides his 597 points, other Kansas freshman season records Wiggins set include: scoring average (17.1), field goals attempted (422), free throws made (176) and free throws attempted (227).

Historically, Wiggins’ selection to the NABC All-America team marks the 34th time a Jayhawk has been named to the NABC All-America Team (list below). Since 2007, Kansas has had at least one player named to one of the three NABC All-America teams every year. In 2012-13 McLemore was named second team and Jeff Withey third team All-America by the NABC.

Kansas went 25-10 in 2013-14 and won its 10th-straight, 14th Big 12 and NCAA-leading 57th conference regular-season title with a 14-4 league record.

— KU Sports Information —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Kansas knows all about Stanford now.

The Cardinal couldn’t deny a slight at a news conference a day earlier fueled them just a bit before pulling their second — and much bigger — upset of the NCAA tournament.

Kansas freshmen Andrew Wiggins and Wayne Selden Jr. ducked their heads and giggled Saturday when asked about Chasson Randle, Stanford’s leading scorer.

“We definitely saw that video,” Randle said Sunday after the No. 10 seed Cardinal beat the second-seeded Jayhawks 60-57 to advance to the Sweet 16 in the South Regional.

“Coach told me not to talk about it but I definitely took it as a challenge. It was a little big extra motivation.”

Enough for the Cardinal to make the Jayhawks the second No. 2 seed to be knocked out of this tournament in the third round and enough for them to reach the round of 16 for the first time since 2008.

Wiggins was held to four points on 1-for-6 shooting in what could have been his final college game. He accepted his share of the responsibility for the loss.

“I let a lot of people down,” Wiggins said. “If I would have played better, we wouldn’t be in this situation, you know? I blame myself for this.”

Dwight Powell had 15 points and seven rebounds despite playing with four fouls much of the second half and Randle added 13 points, six steals and four assists for the Cardinal (23-12), who were making their first NCAA appearance since 2008.

“To beat a team like this, a storied program with great coaching, great players, always feels amazing,” Powell said. “So as of right now we’re still in the race and we’re still playing in March, and it feels great.”

Stanford beat No. 7 seed New Mexico on Friday and will have a higher seed for the first time when it faces 11th-seeded Dayton in the regional semifinal in Memphis, Tenn. The Flyers beat No. 3 Syracuse 55-53.

The 6-foot-8 Wiggins, a likely NBA lottery pick if he decides to leave school, was saddled with four turnovers for Kansas (25-10). Wiggins had averaged 28 points the previous four games but the Jayhawks were missing 7-foot freshman Joel Embiid, who was sidelined by a stress fracture in his back.

Coach Bill Self thought Stanford’s height up front bothered Wiggins, but added, “I think he had an off-game, too. Give them credit for that, we put him in position to make some plays.”

Josh Huestis, who had the primary responsibility for guarding Wiggins, played 39 minutes and had six points, eight rebounds and two blocks.

“That was Josh’s assignment and he took it to heart,” Dawkins said. “He had help. We just tried to make it as difficult as we could for him to score.”

Self said the game seemed like “a struggle from the opening tip.”

Everything didn’t go right for Stanford, either. The Cardinal were 0 for 9 from 3-point range.

“We can make 3s but that’s not what we rely on,” Dawkins said. “I didn’t even notice it because that’s not what we’ve been.”

Tarik Black had 18 points and six rebounds for the Jayhawks, but he fouled out with 5:25 to go. Conner Frankamp had 12 points on four 3-pointers, the last two in the final 23 seconds to make it close after Stanford had pulled ahead by seven.

Stanford was 9 for 12 at the free-throw line over the final 2:04 and needed all those points. Frankamp’s second 3-pointer narrowed the gap to 59-57 with 14.9 seconds left.

Anthony Brown hit one of two free throws with 12.9 seconds to go and Frankamp banged a third 3-point attempt off the glass near the buzzer in a bid to tie it.

“I knew when that left my hand it was off,” Frankamp said. “I didn’t get a great look at it.”

Kansas went to a full-court press down five points with about 11 minutes to play and forced five turnovers the next 6 minutes to tie it.

Kansas had been 0 for 10 from 3-point range for the tournament, seven of the misses against Eastern Kentucky, before Frankamp connected with 3:34 to go in the half.

Frankamp hit another one just before the halftime buzzer off a turnover to put the Jayhawks up 24-22, their first lead of the game. They trailed most of the first half against Eastern Kentucky, too, before pulling away for an 80-69 win.

Powell hit his first shot on a drive after going 0 for 8 against New Mexico on Friday. He had 10 points before drawing his fourth foul early in the second half.

Villanova, the No. 2 seed in the East Regional, lost 77-65 to seventh-seeded Connecticut on Saturday.

— Associated Press —

Kansas freshmen Joel Embiid and Andrew Wiggins were named to the 2014 U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) Freshman All-America Team, the organization announced Monday.

The 2014 Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, Embiid broke the KU freshman record for blocked shots with 72 and his 2.6 blocked shots per game finished out the conference slate ranked second in the league. Named to the 2014 All-Big 12 Second Team, the 7-0 Yaoundé, Cameroon, center leads KU with 8.1 rebounds per game. Embiid is shooting 62.6 percent from the field and averages 11.2 points per game. Additionally, Embiid is one of 30 listed as a Naismith Men’s College Player of the Year Award candidate.

Embiid was a two-time Big 12 Newcomer of the Week – Dec. 2, 2013 and Jan. 20, 2014 – and was named Wayman Tisdale National Freshman of the Week and CBSSports.com National Player of the Week on Jan. 21, 2014 after averaging a double-double with 14.5 points and 10.0 rebounds to go along with 13 blocked shots in KU victories against then-top-10 opponents Iowa State (1/13) and Oklahoma State (1/18). Included was a KU freshman-record eight blocked shots against OSU.

Wiggins scored a Kansas freshman record 41 points at West Virginia in KU’s regular-season finale on March 8 and added 30 points in KU’s overtime victory against Oklahoma State in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Championship, March 13. He would later be named to the Big 12 Championship All-Tournament Team, which included a 22-point effort against Iowa State in the semifinals on March 14.

Wiggins, from Vaughan, Ontario, Canada, leads Kansas with a 17.4 scoring average, the best among Big 12 freshmen and fifth overall in the NCAA’s No. 1 RPI conference. Wiggins has made 43 threes this season and is the team leader with 40 steals. Wiggins’ 6.0 rebound average is third on the team. A gifted shooter, Wiggins also ranked among the Big 12 leaders in field goal percentage (12th at 44.9) and free throw percentage (10th at 76.8) during his rookie campaign.

KU’s first Big 12 Freshman of the Year since the 2006 season, Wiggins was also a unanimous All-Big 12 First Team selection. He picked up various accolades throughout the year, including Big 12 Newcomer of the Week on three different occasions and was the Wayman Tisdale National Freshman of the Week on Jan. 28. Additionally, he is on most every national player and freshman of the year ballot.

Joining Embiid and Wiggins on the five-member 2014 USBWA Freshman All-America Team are Tyler Ennis (Syracuse), Jabari Parker (Duke) and Julius Randle (Kentucky). Parker was named the Wayman Tisdale Award recipient for national freshman of the year by the USBWA.

Kansas (24-9) is the No. 2 seed in the south region of the NCAA Tournament and will play No. 15 seed Eastern Kentucky (24-9) on Friday, March 21, at 3:10 p.m. (Central) at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis.

— KU Sports Information —

LAWRENCE, Kan. – For the 25th-consecutive season, the NCAA selection committee invited No. 10/10 Kansas to the Big Dance as the Jayhawks were awarded the No. 2 seed in the South Region of the 2014 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament after its 10th-straight Big 12 Championship season.

The longest-active NCAA appearance streak in the nation will lead the Jayhawks (24-9) to a meeting with Ohio Valley Conference Champion Eastern Kentucky (24-9) in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at the Scottrade Center in Saint Louis, Mo.  The game will tip-off at approximately 3:10 p.m. CT and will air on TBS.

KU and EKU have played once previously, with the Jayhawks coming away with the 79-65 victory Dec. 5, 1970 in Lawrence.

ABOUT KANSAS (24-9, 14-4 Big 12)
Overall, the Jayhawks are making their 43rd NCAA Tournament appearance and are a No. 2 seed for the sixth time since seeding began in 1979. The Jayhawks were a No. 2 seed in 1990, 1993, 1996, 2003, 2012 and 2014. KU is 95-41 all-time in NCAA Tournament games, including 30 Sweet 16 appearances and 14 trips to the Final Four – two in the 11-year Bill Self era.

The Jayhawks finished the 2014 regular season with a 23-8 record against the nation’s toughest schedule. In conference tournament action, Kansas defeated Oklahoma State in the Phillips Big 12 Championship quarterfinals before falling to eventual tournament champ Iowa State in the semifinals to hand Kansas a 24-9 record to begin postseason play. Against the No. 1 conference in the latest overall RPI, strength of schedule, non-conference RPI and non-conference strength of schedule, Kansas won the Big 12 Conference regular-season outright on March 1 with a three-game lead and two league games remaining. Kansas is one of seven Big 12 Conference teams to earn an NCAA Tournament bid, marking just the fifth time in NCAA history that 70 percent of a league was selected. In all, KU faced 12 NCAA Tournament teams in 2013-14.

Paced by the Big 12 Freshman of the Year Andrew Wiggins’ 17.4 points per game, KU averages 79.6 points per game and outscores opponents by a +9.2 margin. KU has outrebounded 28 of 33 opponents, including 11 of its last 12 foes, and holds a +7.4 rebound margin. KU leads the Big 12, and ranks in the top-five nationally, with a 49.5 field goal percentage.

ABOUT EASTERN KENTUCKY (24-9, 11-5 OVC)
Winners of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament, the Colonels head to the NCAAs on a seven-game win streak after they defeated top-seeded Belmont, 79-73, in Saturday’s title game. EKU, the alma mater for veteran Kansas assistant Kurtis Townsend, is making its first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2007 and eighth appearance overall.

Led by nine-year head coach Jeff Neubauer, the Colonels finished second in the Eastern Division of the OVC regular season with an 11-5 record. The Colonels have six seniors on the roster, compared to their counterpart Jayhawks, and are led by veteran duo Glenn Cosey and Corey Walden. Cosey, a senior guard, sets the tone with 18.8 points per game, while Walden, the OVC Defensive Player of the Year, joins him in the back court and scores 14.4 per contest. The two power the Colonels to a 14.7 assist average. Although KU will have the advantage on the glass, averaging 38.1 boards per game compared to 26.2 for EKU, a small and quick Colonel lineup swipes an impressive 8.8 steals per game.

— KU Sports Information —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Georges Niang walked off the floor in the closing minutes with a bloody towel pressed tightly to his forehead, pumping his fist and riling up the Iowa State fans in the Sprint Center.

Turns out he was just jumpstarting the celebration.

Niang scored 25 points before leaving with that gash above his right eye, and the No. 16 Cyclones held on down the stretch to beat No. 10 Kansas 94-83 Friday night and reach their first Big 12 tournament title game since 2000.

“We love competing for championships,” Niang said later, a bandage over his wound. “Coach says take it one day at a time, but the Big 12 championship is one day away from us.”

DeAndre Kane had five 3-pointers and scored 20 points, and Big 12 player of the year Melvin Ejim added 19 points for the fourth-seeded Cyclones (25-8), who will play for just their second tournament title Saturday night against the winner of Texas-Baylor.

The victory for Iowa State represented its first in four tries against Kansas in the Big 12 tournament, and its first over the Jayhawks in Kansas City since March 10, 1996, when the schools were still part of the Big Eight. It also allowed Iowa State to match its 2001 team for the second-most wins in school history, trailing only the 32 wins piled up by the 2000 team.

Incidentally, it was that team that won the Cyclones’ only Big 12 tournament title.

“It’s a great win for us, for the fact it gives us confidence we can compete with anyone in the nation,” Cyclones coach Fred Hoiberg said. “It was good to finally get one of these after struggling to close out games against Kansas the past few years.”

Relying on some hot outside shooting, Iowa State took charge in the second half, and then held on as the top-seeded Jayhawks (24-9) tried to make a late run to get back into the game.

Perry Ellis led Kansas with 30 points. Andrew Wiggins finished with 22.

The Jayhawks again were playing without 7-footer Joel Embiid, the league’s defensive player of the year, and his rim-protecting presence was sorely missed. The freshman has a stress fracture in his back and is likely out until at least the second weekend of the NCAA tournament.

“Joel not being in there, he could probably guard Niang better,” Kansas coach Bill Self said, “but I think it was more a collection of everybody rather than just one individual.”

The Sprint Center was packed to the rafters with fans eager to see whether Iowa State could finally end its five-game losing streak against the Jayhawks, or whether Kansas could burnish what it hoped would be a resume worthy of a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

The teams got after it right from the tip, racing up and down the floor in what amounted to a series of 94-foot wind sprints. Iowa State got the better of it early, forging a 23-16 lead, but the Jayhawks countered with a brutally efficient 20-3 charge to take control.

Things got so intense that the normally placid Hoiberg was rung up with a technical foul after Kane appeared to be hammered on the way to the basket and no foul was called.

“I used a bad word,” Hoiberg said sheepishly. “I’m not going to say I didn’t.”

The Jayhawks’ lead was also short-lived. Kane started the comeback by converting a three-point play, Ejim and Niang went to work inside, and the Cyclones tied it 46-all in the closing minutes of the first half when Kane knocked down another shot from the corner.

Their hot perimeter shooting continued in the second half, when the Cyclones turned a 48-46 deficit into a 66-57 lead, the last points in the run on a deep ball from Naz Long.

By that point, Iowa State was 11 of 16 from the 3-point line.

“We were on our heels defensively throughout the game,” Ellis said. “I felt in the first half we did a lot better. In the second half, we let too many straight-line drives to the basket.”

The Jayhawks eventually extended their defense to the perimeter, and that’s when Iowa State started going to the basket again. Niang scored four straight baskets for Iowa State during one stretch that made it 81-72, and scored on three straight trips to make it 86-74.

The lead never got much smaller, even after Niang was whacked in the face during a scrum under the basket, prompting him to start the party for the Iowa State fans in attendance.

“We felt like we had these guys in the second half,” Niang said. “We came out and threw the first punch and from there it was clear skies.”

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Andrew Wiggins gathered the ball along the baseline with about a minute left in regulation, turned around and put up the kind of fade-away jumper that will soon make him millions.

When it splashed through the net, his teammates on the Kansas bench leaped to their feet.

Energized by the clutch play of their talented freshman, the No. 10 Jayhawks held on to force overtime, then pulled away for a 77-70 victory over Oklahoma State on Wednesday that earned them a spot in the semifinals of the Big 12 tournament.

“My shot was falling the whole game,” said Wiggins, who finished with 30 points. “They cut off the base line, and step-back is one of my main moves, and it just fell through.”

Wayne Selden Jr. added 14 points, and Naadir Tharpe made four foul shots in the extra session to seal the win for the top-seeded Jayhawks. They advanced to face fourth-seeded Iowa State, a 91-85 winner of fifth-seeded Kansas State, on Friday night.

“It was an unbelievable game,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “Two teams competing hard.”

Phil Forte briefly gave the Cowboys a 70-68 lead with a 3-pointer a minute into overtime, but the Jayhawks (24-8) scored the final nine points, all but two at the foul line.

Le’Bryan Nash scored 19 points to lead the No. 8 seed Cowboys (21-12). Forte added 16 points and Marcus Smart finished with 14, though he missed all three of his shots in overtime.

“It’s always hard to beat Kansas, especially in this building,” Smart said. “They have the fanbase to back them up. It’s kind of hard. They have the energy and momentum from their fans and it kind of takes the opposing team out of it.”

Both teams had chances to earn the win in regulation.

After Wiggins hit his jumper to knot the game 67-all, Cowboys coach Travis Ford decided against going 2-for-1 on possessions, and Smart missed a 3 with 32 seconds left.

The Jayhawks got the rebound and called timeout with 16 seconds left, and set up a play for Wiggins, who missed a tightly guarded 3 with a few ticks left on the lock. Tarik Black gathered in the rebound and stuck it back, but the basket came after time had expired.

Black got extended minutes in place of Joel Embiid, the Jayhawks’ 7-foot freshman center, who has been ruled out indefinitely with a stress fracture in his back. Black finished with seven points and 12 rebounds, including a couple with the game in the balance.

Now, the Jayhawks will try to beat Iowa State for the third time this season.

“Kansas is a team that you’ve already played twice,” Cyclones coach Fred Hoiberg said. “We know everybody. Everybody knows us.”

The Cowboys, who had to play a matinee after dispatching Texas Tech on Wednesday night, didn’t look as if they were weary in the first half. They actually pulled out to an early lead, silencing a heavily pro-Kansas crowd that had packed inside the Sprint Center.

Kansas responded by taking a 32-23 lead into halftime, and then maintained its advantage early in the second half. But once Black and fellow forward Perry Ellis picked up their fourth fouls, the Cowboys started shredding the Kansas defense by driving the lane.

Smart proved to be the most adept at it, picking up fouls when he wasn’t hammered on the way to the rim. But just about everyone wearing black and orange got into the act, and Oklahoma State methodically trimmed the lead to 55-49 with about 8 minutes to go.

That’s when Ford changed things up by slapping on a full-court press. It produced two quick turnovers and helped Oklahoma State take a 60-59 lead with 4 minutes left.

It was the Cowboys’ first lead since the 12-minute mark in the first half.

The two teams, who each won on their home floor during the regular season, traded blows down the stretch. Selden made a couple free throws for Kansas, Forte answered with two from the foul line for Oklahoma State. Black and Wiggins threw down alley-oop dunks for the Jayhawks, and Murphy hit a pair of free throws and Markel Brown hit a rainbow 3 to give the Cowboys the lead.

It just made sense that such a nip-and-tuck game would be decided in overtime.

“They made some big shots down the stretch,” Ford said. “Wiggins made a big shot in the corner — he played a heck of a game. They’re just a heck of a basketball team, but our guys played hard. We just didn’t have anything left in the tank at the end.”

— Associated Press —

Kansas freshmen Joel Embiid and Andrew Wiggins have been named to the 2013-14 All-District VI team, the U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) announced Tuesday.

A total of nine all-district teams were announced with 10 student-athletes named to each team as voted on by the USBWA’s 900 members. District VI includes NCAA Division I schools in the states of Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.

The 2014 Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, Embiid broke the KU freshman record for blocked shots with 72 and his 2.6 blocked shots per game are second in the league. Named to the 2014 All-Big 12 Second Team, Embiid leads KU with 8.1 rebounds per game, good for sixth in the Big 12. The Yaoundé, Cameroon, center is shooting 62.6 percent from the field and averaging 11.2 points per game. Additionally, Embiid is a Wayman Tisdale Award finalist for the most outstanding freshman by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) and one of 30 listed as a Naismith Men’s College Player of the Year Award candidate.

Embiid, who will not play in the upcoming Big 12 Championship and likely not in the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament due to a back injury, was a two-time Big 12 Newcomer of the Week – Dec. 2, 2013 and Jan. 20, 2014 – and was named Wayman Tisdale National Freshman of the Week and CBSSports.com National Player of the Week on Jan. 21, 2014 after averaging a double-double with 14.5 points and 10.0 rebounds to go along with 13 blocked shots in KU victories against then-top-10 opponents Iowa State (1/13) and Oklahoma State (1/18). Included was a KU freshman-record eight blocked shots against OSU.

Wiggins scored a Kansas freshman record 41 points at West Virginia in KU’s regular-season finale on March 8. The Vaughan, Ontario, Canada, guard leads Kansas with a 16.8 scoring average, the best among Big 12 freshmen and eighth overall in the conference. Wiggins has made 37 threes this season and is the team leader with 36 steals after his career-high five at WVU, the most by any Jayhawk this season. Wiggins’ 5.9 rebound average is third on the team. A gifted shooter, Wiggins also ranks among the Big 12 leaders in field goal percentage (11th at 45.2) and free throw percentage (10th at 76.5).

The Big 12 Freshman of the Year, Wiggins was a three-time Big 12 Newcomer of the Week before landing a unanimous All-Big 12 First Team selection earlier this month. He was the Wayman Tisdale National Freshman of the Week on Jan. 28 and is on most every national player and freshman of the year ballot.

2013-14 USBWA All-DISTRICT VI
(IA, MO, KS, OK, NE, ND, SD)

PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Doug McDermott, Creighton

COACH OF THE YEAR: Gregg Marshall, Wichita State

ALL-DISTRICT TEAM
Cleanthony Early, Wichita State
Melvin Ejim, Iowa State
Joel Embiid, Kansas
DeAndre Kane, Iowa State
Roy Devyn Marble, Iowa
Doug McDermott, Creighton
Terran Petteway, Nebraska
Marcus Smart, Oklahoma State
Fred VanVleet, Wichita State
Andrew Wiggins, Kansas

— KU Sports Information —