The 2021-22 regular season was a great one for Keegan Murray. Hopefully, he still has many games to play this season, but he's already begun to reap the rewards of his outstanding sophomore season.

Murray, who led Iowa to a 22-9 regular season and the #4 seed in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament, was named a First Team All-America by the Sporting News on Monday.

Murray, the 6-8" 225-pound native of Cedar Rapids, is averaging 23.3 points per game (ppg) this season, good for 4th in the nation, and tops for players from a major conference. He's also the only player in America scoring over 23 per game, to go along with 8+ rebounds, and 2+ blocks per contest.

The Iowa Sports Information Department says Murray is the first Big Ten player to increase his scoring average by more than 16 points per game (he averaged 7.2 points per game last year) since Rick Schmidt of Illinois did it in 1972-73 (3.8 points per game) and 1973-1974 (21.4 ppg).

The other members of the Sporting News All-America team include two other Big Ten players, Kofi Cockburn of Illinois and Johnny Davis of Wisconsin. The other two selections are Ochai Agbaji of Kansas and Oscar Tshiebwe of Kentucky.

Iowa has now had an All-America honoree from the Sporting News in four of the last seven years. Luka Garza was named to the first team in both 2020 and 2021. Jarrod Uthoff was named to the second team in 2016.

The honor from Sporting News is one of many that Murray has received throughout the season:
• Sporting News First Team All-America
• John R. Wooden Award National Ballot (Semifinalist)
• Naismith Player of the Year Trophy Midseason Team
• Lute Olson National Player of the Year Midseason List
• Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Finalist
• Sporting News Midseason Second Team All-America
• The Athletic Midseason Second Team All-America
• Naismith Trophy National Player of the Week (Feb. 14)
• Big Ten Co-Player of the Week (March 7)
• Big Ten Player of the Week (Feb. 28)
• Big Ten Co-Player of the Week (Feb. 14)
• Big Ten Player of the Week (Jan. 3)
• Big Ten Player of the Week (Dec. 20)
• Big Ten Co-Player of the Week (Nov. 22)

Iowa will play either Northwestern or Nebraska Thursday afternoon in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament. The game will begin at approximately 1 p.m. and be televised by Big Ten Network. The bracket is below.

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