BYU's Jaxson Robinson named Big 12 sixth man of year by league coaches

PROVO — The best bench scorer in the Big 12 Conference resides in Provo, league coaches announced Sunday afternoon following the conclusion of the 2023-24 regular season.

Jaxson Robinson was named Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year after wrapping up a regular season averaging a team-high 13.9 points on 40.3% scoring and 34.6% shooting from 3-point range while coming off the bench in 24 of his 30 games during the 2023-24 season.

Robinson has a team-best 70 3-pointers on the year, one of 11 players in BYU history with 70 or more triples in a single season. He's the first conference Sixth Man of the Year from BYU since Jonathan Tavernari won the award in the Mountain West in 2009-10.

A year ago, the Ada, Oklahoma, native and two-time transfer from Texas A&M and Arkansas was struggling to find his role with the team, starting 30 of 33 games but averaging just 8.5 points on 38.6% shooting while the Cougars finished fifth in the West Coast Conference in their final season in the league.

Sometimes a step back is exactly what you need for a step forward, and Robinson's move to the bench propelled the 6-foot-7 senior into NBA Draft conversations and sent BYU skyrocketing from being picked 13th by Big 12 coaches in the league's preseason poll to a No. 5 seed in this week's Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City.

Competition brought out the best in Robinson, and it clearly did for a BYU team that lead the conference in scoring at 82.2 points per game and 3-pointers made at 11.3 per contest — nearly three 3s ahead of second-place Baylor. He's averaged 12.2 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.9 3-pointers per game in Big 12 play, ranking 14th in the league in scoring.

"I think being in the Big 12 requires you to play that much harder, be that much more consistent, and be smarter about all the little things that matter," Robinson said after Saturday night's 85-71 win over Oklahoma State in the regular-season finale. "I just feel like it came with experience and us playign together for a year. That Europe trip really helped us in the summer, and I think it's paid huge dividends on the court, moving the ball, finding the open men and practicing together."

Houston's Jamal Shead was named player of the year and defensive player of the year, and Kelvin Sampson added Big 12 coach of the year honors after leading the Cougars to a league title in their first season in the conference. Kansas' Hunter Dickinson took home Big 12 newcomer of the year, Baylor's Ja'Kobe Walter was freshman of the year, and Texas' Dylan Disu added most improved player honors in the Longhorns' final season before joining the SEC with Oklahoma this summer.

Shead was a unanimous selection to the All-Big 12 first team, where he joined Dickinson, Disu, Iowa State's Tamin Lipsey and Kansas' Kevin McCullar Jr. BYU was the only team to finish in the top eight of the league standings without an All-Big 12 player on the first, second or third team.

Joining Robinson is All-Big 12 honorable mentions were BYU teammates Dallin Hall, Spencer Johnson and Fousseyni Traore.

Hall is one of three BYU players to feature in all 31 games this season, and the sophomore from Plain City ranks fourth in the conference in assists per game with 5.0. His 155 career assists are the 15th-most in a single season in program history, and his 99 assists in Big 12 play ranked sixth all-time in a league season in BYU history.

Johnson led the Cougars with three double-doubles this season, averaging 10.5 points, 5.9 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.1 steals per game.

Traore averaged 10.9 points, 5.1 rebounds and 0.8 blocks per game in Big 12 play on a 63.5% shooting clip for the Cougars, scoring in double figures eight times including three games with 20 or more points while starting eight of his 23 games played.

Ranked 20th in the latest Associated Press Top 25, BYU opens the Big 12 Tournament against the winner of Oklahoma State and UCF on Wednesday at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.

Full awards are available through the Big 12.

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