Pascal Siakam named as AP All-America honorable mention

LAS CRUCES, N.M. – New Mexico State forward Pascal Siakam became the seventh Aggie in school history to be named an All-American with his selection to the Associated Press All-America team.

The 6-9 sophomore from Douala, Cameroon who led the Aggies (23-11, 13-1) to their second consecutive Western Athletic Conference Championship and a berth in the National Invitation Tournament, was named an honorable mention on the AP team.

The unanimous WAC Player of the Year, Siakam has also been chosen first team All-WAC, to the WAC All-Defensive Team, to the NABC All-District 6 first team and to the USBWA All-District VIII team.

Siakam leads the nation with 27 double-doubles, ranking eighth in rebounding with 11.6 boards per game and 26th in scoring with 20.3 points per contest. He is the only player in NCAA Division I averaging a double-double that averages 20 points a game. Siakam is also ranked 32nd with 2.24 blocked shots per game.

Siakam was also named WAC Player of the Week an unprecedented five times this season.

Siakam joins six other Aggie greats who have been named as All-Americans. Charlie Criss was selected first team UPI “Small Men” All-America in 1969, Jimmy Collins was tabbed first team All-America by the USBWA, Helms and Converse in 1970, Sam Lacey was named first team All-America by Basketball News in 1970 and John Williamson was named first team All-America by Basketball News in 1972. Recently, James Moore was an AP honorable mention All-America in 2003 and Daniel Mullings was an AP honorable mention All-America in 2014.

The AP All-America team is voted on by the national media panel that selects the weekly AP basketball poll. The AP team has been selected since 1948.

The AP first team is led by Michigan State’s Denzel Valentine and Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield who were unanimous selections. They are joined by Kentucky’s Tyler Ulis, North Carolina’s Brice Johnson and Virginia’s Malcolm Brogdon.

The AP second team has Utah’s Jakob Poeltl, LSU’s Ben Simmons, Kansas’ Perry Ellis, Providence’s Kris Dunn and Iowa State’s Georges Niang.

The AP third team is made up of Duke’s Grayson Allen, Indiana’s Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell, Iowa’s Jarrod Uthoff , Oakland’s Kay Felder and Kentucky’s Jamal Murray.

Among the 39 joining Siakam named honorable mention are Arizona’s Ryan Anderson, Weber State’s Joel Bolomboy, Wichita State’s Fred VanVleet, Texas A&M’s Danuel House and Stephen F. Austin’s Thomas Walkup.

The voting was conducted by the panel prior to the NCAA Tournament.