Bridges Named First Team All-Big Ten; Michigan's Wagner Second Team
(WWJ) - Michigan State sophomore Miles Bridges was named to the All-Big Ten First Team by coaches and media on Monday.
Bridges is joined on the first team by Ohio State's Keita Bates-Diop, Penn State's Tony Carr and Purdue's Carsen Edwards. Coaches voted Nebraska's James Palmer, Jr. as the fifth member of the first team, while media members voted for Ethan Happ of Wisconsin.
Bridges led the Spartans with 16.8 points per game, ranking seventh in the conference. He was tied for 11th in the Big Ten with 6.9 rebounds per game. The 6-foot-7 wing man returned for his sophomore season and led the Spartans to the outright Big Ten regular season title.
Teammate Jaren Jackson, Jr. was named the conference's Freshman of the Year as well as the Defnesive Player of the Year.
Jackson is the third Spartan to win freshman of the year in the last six seasons and set an MSU single-season record with 102 blocks.
Michigan forward Moritz Wagner was named second team All-Big Ten. Wagner averaged 14.4 points and 7.2 rebounds for the Wolverines, who hold the No. 5 seed in this week's Big Ten Tournament at Madison Square Garden.
Fellow Wolverine Duncan Robinson won the Sixth Man of the Year award. Robinson averaged 9.3 points and 2.5 rebounds off the bench. He shot 39 percent from behind the three-point line.
Two more Spartans earned all-conference honors. Jackson and Cassius Winston were named to the All-Big Ten Third Team by coaches and media, while Nick Ward was voted onto the team by media members.
Bates-Diop was named the Big Ten Player of the Year, having a breakout season for the Buckeyes, who finished second in the conference. His head coach, Chris Holtmann, was named the conference's coach of the year. Holtmann is in his first year with the Buckeyes, who were picked to finish 11th in the unofficial preseason Big Ten media poll.
The Wolverines are set to open the Big Ten Tournament Thursday around 2:30 p.m. against the winner of the Illinois-Iowa game. The Spartans will play the winner of Maryland vs. Wisconsin at noon on Friday.
