All-Big West Awards (.pdf) >>>
HENDERSON, Nev. (March 7, 2022) - The Big West regular-season champion Long Beach State has earned two major awards and one of three specialty honors to highlight the 2021-22 Big West men’s basketball all-conference teams. Senior guard Colin Slater is The Big West Player of the Year, with Dan Monson The Big West Coach of the Year for a fourth time. The Newcomer of the Year goes to E.J. Anosike of Cal State Fullerton, while UC Santa Barbara’s Ajay Mitchell is the Freshman of the Year. The conference’s 11 head coaches voted for the awards.

Slater, a native of New Orleans, La., has averaged 13.9 points and 2.8 assists per game in guiding Long Beach State to The Big West regular-season title in his fourth and final season in the program after a transfer from Tulane. He is second on the team and 10th in the league in scoring, and 12th in the conference in assists. Slater also ranks fourth in three-pointers made per game (2.2), sixth in three-point percentage (.394) and seventh in free throw percentage (.828). He has registered seven 20-point efforts, tied for fourth-most in the league. Slater is the Beach’s first Player of the Year since James Ennis in 2012-13.

In his 15th season at Long Beach State, Monson led the Beach to their first regular-season crown since 2012-13, securing the trophy outright with a dramatic 73-72 overtime triumph on Saturday night over UC Riverside inside its Walter Pyramid. LBSU went 11-3 at the venue this year, finishing with nine straight wins there. The Beach, which tops the league in scoring offense at 74.3 points per game, went 12-3 in conference play and takes an 18-11 overall mark into the postseason. Monson was previously the back-to-back-to-back Big West Coach of the Year from 2010-13.

Anosike, a senior forward from East Orange, N.J., leads The Big West in scoring and is fourth in rebounding with his averages of 16.3 points and 7.7 boards per game. The Tennessee graduate transfer also ranks sixth in field goal percentage (.515) and 11th in free throw percentage (.788), and has posted nine 20-point games, tied for most in the league, and seven double-doubles, tied for second-most. Anosike has produced the second-best single-game points output around the conference this season, having poured in 33 in a home win over CSUN on Jan. 13. He is the Titans’ second Newcomer of the Year in the last three seasons, and conference-best fifth in the award’s 12-year history.

Mitchell, a guard from Ans, Liege, Belgium, leads The Big West with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.2, and is 17th in the league in scoring (11.8 points per game) and third in both assists per game (3.8) and field goal percentage (.552). He has turned in one of just four double-digit assist performances this season around the conference, with his season-best 10 helpers coming in a home win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Nov. 24, and also had back-to-back 30-point efforts in a pair of overtime road wins at the end of February. Mitchell, a second-team All-Big West pick, is UCSB’s first Freshman of the Year since Gabe Vincent in 2014-15.

Joining Anosike and Slater on the All-Big West First Team are Slater’s Beach teammate, Joel Murray, as well as Ezra Manjon of UC Davis, Amadou Sow of UC Santa Barbara, and Collin Welp of UC Irvine. Welp is now a three-time first-team selection. Sow is a four-time All-Big West honoree, going back-to-back on the first team after second-team nods in 2018-19 and 2019-20. Manjon, the 2019-20 Big West Freshman of the Year, was named to the second team in each of the previous two seasons.

The Big West Best Sixth Player, Jalen Harris, is fourth in scoring for Cal State Fullerton at 9.6 points per game, and 10th in The Big West in free throw percentage (.805). The senior guard from Los Angeles is the Titans’ first Best Sixth Player in over a decade, since 2010-11.

Jadon Jones is Long Beach State’s second Big West Best Defensive Player in the last three years. The second-year freshman guard and Long Beach native provides 0.9 blocks and 1.3 steals per outing, third and seventh in the league, respectively, alongside a 10.5 scoring average.

Sixth-year UC Riverside guard Dominick Pickett is the Best Hustle Player for the second straight season. The graduate student and former walk-on out of Moreno Valley averages 11.5 points per game, 18th in the league, and is also fifth in steals per game (1.5), seventh in three-pointers made per game (1.9), 12th in field goal percentage (.461) and 14th in assists per game (2.6).

Jones and Pickett both picked up All-Big West honorable mentions this year.

The Big West 2021-22 Men's Basketball All-Conference Team
Player of the Year:	Colin Slater, Long Beach State
Coach of the Year:	Dan Monson, Long Beach State
Newcomer of the Year:	E.J. Anosike, Cal State Fullerton
Freshman of the Year:	Ajay Mitchell, UC Santa Barbara
Specialty Awards
Best Sixth Player:	Jalen Harris, Cal State Fullerton
Best Defensive Player:	Jadon Jones, Long Beach State
Best Hustle Player:	Dominick Pickett, UC Riverside
All-Big West First Team
Student-Athlete	Year	Position	Institution	Hometown
E.J. Anosike	Sr.	Forward	Cal State Fullerton	East Orange, N.J.
Ezra Manjon	So.	Guard	UC Davis	Antioch, Calif.
Joel Murray	Jr.	Guard	Long Beach State	Rowlett, Texas
Colin Slater	Sr.	Guard	Long Beach State	New Orleans, La.
Amadou Sow	Sr.	Forward	UC Santa Barbara	Bamako, Mali
Collin Welp	R-Sr.	Forward	UC Irvine	Seattle, Wash.
All-Big West Second Team
Student-Athlete	Year	Position	Institution	Hometown
Noel Coleman	So.	Guard	Hawai’i	Leopoldsburg, Belgium
Damari Milstead	Sr.	Guard	Cal State Fullerton	Oakland, Calif.
Ajay Mitchell	Fr.	Guard	UC Santa Barbara	Ans, Liege, Belgium
Elijah Pepper	So.	Guard	UC Davis	Selah, Wash.
Zyon Pullin	Jr.	Guard	UC Riverside	Pleasant Hill, Calif.

Honorable Mention: Dawson Baker (UC Irvine); Jerome Desrosiers (Hawai’i); Jadon Jones (Long Beach State); Alimamy Koroma (Cal Poly); Justin McCall (CSU Bakersfield); Callum McRae (UC Riverside); Miles Norris (UC Santa Barbara); Dominick Pickett (UC Riverside); Aboubacar Traore (Long Beach State); Toni Rocak (UC San Diego); Atin Wright (CSUN)