Freshman Amadou Sow was named Second Team All-Big West, graduate transfer Ar’mond Davis was selected honorable mention all-league and senior Jarriesse Blackmon was chosen the co-Hustle Player of the Year by the Big West’s coaches the league announced Monday.
Sow enters the Big West Conference Tournament averaging 12.0 points and 6.5 rebounds per game while shooting 57.7% from the field. In conference play, the native of Mali averaged a team-best 13.4 points per game. He also leads the Gauchos with 22 blocked shots. In the Gauchos’ most recent game, a 92-82 win at Cal Poly on Mar. 9, he scored a career-high 23 points on a perfect 9-for-9 field goal shooting performance. In the game against the Mustangs, Sow became the school’s all-time leading freshman scorer and he enters the league tournament with 361 points. In addition, he has 194 rebounds and needs just two to pass Alan Williams for second on the all-time freshman list.
“Amadou is one of the best freshmen I have ever coached,” said head coach Joe Pasternack. “Ever since he got to UCSB he has honored the process and he is being rewarded for that.”
Davis remains UCSB’s leading scorer at 13.1 points per game overall and he is second in rebounding at 5.9 per game. In the final game of the regular season at Cal Poly, he set a career-high with 17 rebounds, the most by a Gaucho player since March of 2015. Davis, who transferred to UCSB after graduating from Alabama last year, also leads the team with 45 three-point baskets.
“Ar’mond has been a great addition for our program,” Pasternack said. “I recently challenged him to rebound harder and hhis response was outstanding.
Blackmon is averaging 4.7 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. He also ranks second on the team with 21 blocked shots and fourth with 16 steals. He is also one of the best defensive players on the roster.
“Jarriesse is really our glue-guy,” Pasternack said. “He doesn’t need to score to be an important part of our team and what we do. He definitely deserves this honor.”
Blackmon shares the homore with Cal Poly’s Donovan Fields.
UCSB will travel to Anaheim to open the 2019 Big West Tournament on Thursday, Mar. 14. The Gauchos and Cal State Northridge will be the first game of the tournament as they tip-off at noon in Honda Center.