TUCSON, Ariz. -- Arizona's reward for running away with the Pac-12 regular-season championship was a nice team trophy -- its second in two years. As for individual awards, those largely went elsewhere.
Many thought senior point guard T.J. McConnell was deserving of following former teammate Nick Johnson as Pac-12 player of the year, but that honor went instead to Oregon's Joseph Young in voting by Pac-12 coaches. Young's 19.8 points per game overshadowed McConnell's all-around contributions as distributor, defender, complementary scorer and leader.
Arizona also came up empty in voting for defensive player of the year honors. The Wildcats thought they had a worthy choice in sophomore forward Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, who routinely guarded the opponent's No. 1 threat, whether it be a point guard, wing man or post player. But the winner was Oregon State guard Gary Payton II.
The state of Oregon also claimed coach of the year honors, as Oregon's Dana Altman got the nod over Sean Miller and others for leading a rebuilding Ducks team to a tie for second place.
The Wildcats lone individual honor was Stanley Johnson, who became the eighth Wildcat to be named freshman of the year. Johnson leads Pac-12 freshmen in scoring (13.9), steals (46), free throws made (119) and free throw attempts (162). He follows former Arizona player Aaron Gordon, who won the award last year before turning pro.
Johnson, McConnell and Hollis-Jefferson all were named first-team all-conference players; and McConnell and Hollis-Jefferson also earned places on the all-defensive team. McConnell averages 9.6 points per game and a Pac-12 leading 6.3 assists. He also leads the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.25). Hollis-Jefferson averages 11.2 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game.
Joining the three Wildcats on the 10-person All-Pac-12 first team are Oregon's Young, Oregon State's Payton, Delon Wright of Utah, Norman Powell of UCLA, DaVonte Lacy of Washington State, Chasson Randle of Stanford and Tyrone Wallace of California. Arizona junior forward Brandon Ashley was honorable mention.
The all-defensive team consists of Hollis-Jefferson, McConnell, Payton, Wright and Oregon's Jordan Bell.
Joining Johnson on the all-freshman team are Arizona State's Tra Holder, Oregon's Jordan Bell and Dillon Brooks, UCLA's Kevon Looney, USC's Jordan McLaughlin and Utah's Jakob Poeltl.
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