Arizona guard Pelle Larsson, left, is the Pac-12's Sixth Man of the Year, while teammate Christian Koloko, right, was named Defensive Player of the Year and Most Improved Player.
During their near-sweep of Pac-12 conference awards Monday, the Arizona Wildcats received a small surprise: Guard Pelle Larsson was named Pac-12 Sixth Man of the Year, joining expected winners Tommy Lloyd (Coach of the Year), Bennedict Mathurin (Player of the Year) and Christian Koloko (Defensive Player of the Year and Most Improved Player).
Stanfordβs Harrison Ingram, the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, was the only non-Wildcat winner of the conferenceβs six major awards.
Meanwhile, UA forward Azuolas Tubelis joined Mathurin and Koloko on the 10-player all-conference first team, while guard Dalen Terry joined Koloko on the five-player all-defense team and earned honorable mention all-conference honors.
βI think itβs just the recognition we kind of deserve,β Koloko said. βLike Coach (Sean) Miller used to tell us, with team success comes individual accolades. I think thatβs what weβre seeing right now.β
The 10-player all conference first team also included three players from UCLA (Johnny Juzang, Jaime Jaquez and Tyger Campbell) plus two from USC (Isaiah Mobley and Drew Peterson), along with Washingtonβs Terrell Brown and Coloradoβs Jabari Walker.
The five-player all-defensive team also included three players from UCLA: Jaquez, Myles Johnson and Jaylen Clark.
In the race for Player of the Year, Mathurinβs closest rival might have been a former teammate: Brown transferred from Arizona to Washington last spring and wound up averaging 21.7 points a game for the Huskies to lead the conference in scoring.
Brown helped Washington win three of its last four games to finish in a three-way tie for fifth place, arguably doing as much to elevate his team as anyone in the conference.
βI certainly think Terrell should definitely be in the conversation because of what he did this season,β Pac-12 Networks analyst Matt Muehlebach, a former Wildcat standout, said before the awards were announced. βItβs been really impressive and at times, heβs really carrying that team.
βBut itβs a short conversation. Iβm not taking anything away from him whatsoever but I just think Mathurinβs success, combined with the team success, just makes it a shorter conversation.β
After the awards were announced Monday, UA coach Tommy Lloyd said Mathurinβs progression has been fun to watch.
βBennβs had a dominant year,β Lloyd said. βI think if you kind of watch how the year went, he might have started slow those first couple games and then kind of really took off in December. Then in some of those early Pac-12 games, he kind of hit a patch where he struggled a little bit and teams were throwing different things at him. But he adjusted and heβs gotten better.
βHe continues to get better and Iβm hoping we can squeeze another jump out of him.β
Though Mathurin is a projected NBA lottery pick, UA associate head coach Jack Murphy said during Lloydβs radio show on Monday that the starβs unselfishness has been a big key to the Wildcatsβ success.
βWhen heβs fully bought in heβs been a catalyst for our success and you have to give him a ton of credit for doing,β Murphy said. βNot many 19-year-olds have the wherewithal, the maturity to see that and Benn did. And Benn came back to school for all the right reasons. I think itβs shown in his play, and itβs shown in our team success.β
Koloko emerged this season not only as a rim-protecting shot blocker but also as a versatile defender who could handle switching on to perimeter players. He stopped Oregon guard Will Richardson on the Ducksβ final possession of UAβs 84-81 win in McKale Center, shadowing him all the way from the 3-point line to the left of the basket, where Richardson turned the ball over as time expired.
βChristian should be the Defensive Player of the Year in the conference,β Murphy said Monday evening. βIf heβs not, somebody stole something.β
Earning Most Improved honors also came as no surprise, considering Kolokoβs emergence from a role player as a freshman to a part-time starter last season to a dominant defender and capable inside scorer as a junior this season.
βHeβs come really far and Iβm proud of him,β Lloyd said. βWhen we first talked about him staying here (last spring), I told him that I thought these things were possible and and that I love coaching and developing big guys.
βAnd I said now I need you to commit to working and sticking with the process. Weβre going to work hard, youβre going to make progress, then youβre going to want to work harder. Thatβs the kind of cycle you want to get and heβs definitely heβs done that.β
Arizona nominated both Larsson and center Oumar Ballo for the conferenceβs Sixth Man award, but Larssonβs versatility and skills on both sides of the ball likely attracted the votes of coaches, who vote for all the conferenceβs major postseason awards while media vote for preseason and weekly honors.
βItβs (awarded) by the coaches, but I think heβs deserving,β Lloyd said of Larsson. βI think Oumar is deserving and I think Justinβs right there, all three of those guys. What a luxury for a team to have three guys that can be up for Sixth Man of the Year.β
Larsson is not only a reliable offensive player off the bench, averaging 7.1 points while shooting 47.0% overall and 35.5% from 3-point range, but heβs also Arizonaβs most versatile defender. Larsson has often been assigned to guard many of the Pac-12βs smaller power forwards, matching up more effectively than the 6-11 Tubelis.
Larsson started off slowly this season after breaking his foot while playing with the Swedish national team in August but has improved as the season progressed. By the time Larsson hit all five shots he took and scored 14 points in UAβs 91-79 win at ASU on Feb. 7, Lloyd said he was hitting another level.
βPelle is coming on,β Lloyd said after that game. βWe had some talks with him and I think his next step, and he is starting to take it, is scoring double figures. If you fall into a couple of assists, great, but donβt try to get five assists and then only score four points. I want 10-12-15 points and then two, three assists.β
Though Larsson did not make the conferenceβs all-defensive team, Murphy said Larsson and Terry have proven top defenders for the Wildcats, who hold opponents to just 41.6% shooting from two-point range (the second best defensive two-point percentage nationally).
Meanwhile, Lloyd took a team that was picked to finish fourth in the Pac-12 and turned it into one that won the league title by three games. He did it by taking a core of talented sophomores left behind by former coach Sean Miller and then meshing in three key transfers to come off the bench: Larsson (Utah), Ballo (Gonzaga) and guard Justin Kier (Georgia), and making them better individually and collectively.
βTheyβre very talented, and that talent has developed,β Muehlebach said. βIt feels like every guy in that team is better today than he was on November 1.β
Photos: Arizona Wildcats earn four Pac-12 basketball awards
Bennedict Mathurin, 2022 Pac-12 Player of the Year
Updated
Bennedict Mathurin, 2022 Pac-12 Player of the Year
Updated
Bennedict Mathurin, 2022 Pac-12 Player of the Year
Updated
Bennedict Mathurin, 2022 Pac-12 Player of the Year
Updated
Bennedict Mathurin, 2022 Pac-12 Player of the Year
Updated
Bennedict Mathurin, 2022 Pac-12 Player of the Year
Updated
Bennedict Mathurin, 2022 Pac-12 Player of the Year
Updated
Christian Koloko, 2022 Pac-12
Defensive Player of the Year
Updated
Christian Koloko, 2022 Pac-12
Defensive Player of the Year
Updated
Christian Koloko, 2022 Pac-12
Defensive Player of the Year
Updated
Christian Koloko, 2022 Pac-12
Defensive Player of the Year
Updated
Christian Koloko, 2022 Pac-12
Defensive Player of the Year
Updated
Christian Koloko, 2022 Pac-12
Defensive Player of the Year
Updated
Christian Koloko, 2022 Pac-12
Defensive Player of the Year