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Gonzaga Basketball

Gonzaga’s Drew Timme and Chet Holmgren selected as finalists for Naismith Award

Gonzaga Bulldogs center Chet Holmgren (34) and forward Drew Timme (2) talk it out coming out of a timeout during the second half of the WCC Tournament semifinal on Monday in Las Vegas, Nev. Gonzaga won the game 81-71. (Tyler Tjomsland / The Spokesman-Review)
By Theo Lawson theol@spokesman.com(509) 459-5584

Three days after both were named to the West Coast Conference all-tournament team, Gonzaga’s outstanding frontcourt tandem of Drew Timme and Chet Holmgren woke up to more accolades Friday morning.

Timme and Holmgren were chosen as two of the 10 finalists for the Naismith Trophy – an award recognizing college basketball’s most outstanding player.

Gonzaga is the only school with multiple players on a 10-man list that also includes Arizona’s Bennedict Mathurin, Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe, Auburn’s Jabari Smith, Wisconsin’s Johnny Davis, Iowa’s Keegan Murray, Kansas’ Ochai Agbaji, Illinois’ Kofi Cockburn and Ohio State’s E.J. Liddell.

Both of Gonzaga’s frontcourt standouts are also in the running for positional awards.

Holmgren was recently named one of five finalists for the Karl Malone Award (nation’s best power forward) and Timme named one of five finalists for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award (nation’s best center).

Last week, Timme was selected as the WCC Player of the Year the same day Holmgren was named WCC Newcomer of the Year and WCC Defensive Player of the Year. Both were named to the All-WCC first team.

Timme finished second in the WCC while averaging 17.5 points per game during his junior season and ranked ninth in the conference with 6.3 rebounds per game. The Texas native improved his assists average from 2.3 per game as a sophomore to 2.7 as a junior. In WCC games only, Timme led the WCC at 18.5 ppg.

The reigning Karl Malone Award winner, Timme was third in the WCC in overall field-goal percentage, making 58.8% of his shots from the field. In three seasons with the Bulldogs, he’s amassed an overall record of 88-6 and 43-2 in conference games, winning three consecutive WCC titles.

Holmgren was the WCC’s season leader with 3.6 blocks per game. The freshman from Minnesota has 104 blocks through 29 games and would need 13 more in the NCAA Tournament to match the single-season Gonzaga record set by Brandon Clarke.

The Minnesota native also led the WCC in rebounds per game (9.6) and field-goal percentage, making 61% in all games and 62% in conference games. Holmgren also made 41% of his 3-point shots in all games and 50% in WCC games, tying for the conference lead with GU teammate Rasir Bolton.