Ohio State men's basketball | Kaleb Wesson, Joey Lane receive honors at All-Big Ten Awards
![Flames roar as Ohio State Buckeyes guard Kam Williams (15) is introduced before a NCAA men's basketball game between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Michigan State Spartans on Sunday, January 7, 2018 at Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio. [Joshua A. Bickel]](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/authoring/2019/03/11/NBUX/ghows-OH-83d8f439-c40b-6676-e053-0100007f2bed-f37a9026.jpeg?width=660&height=392&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
For the third time in four years, Ohio State did not place a player on the Big Ten’s first, second or third teams.
The Buckeyes’ only representative among the league awards announced Monday was sophomore center Kaleb Wesson, who received honorable mention honors. Senior Joey Lane was also named the team’s sportsmanship award nominee.
Michigan State junior Cassius Winston was named conference player of the year and was joined on the Big Ten’s first team by Maryland’s Bruno Fernando, Purdue’s Carsen Edwards, Wisconsin’s Ethan Happ and a split between Penn State’s Lamar Stevens (coaches) and Minnesota’s Jordan Murphy (media).
Named second-team all-league by the coaches and media were Michigan’s Ignas Brazdeikis and Zavier Simpson and Maryland’s Anthony Cowan, while Murphy and Indiana’s Romeo Langford were picked by the coaches and Stevens was named by the media.
The coaches and media picked Michigan State’s Nick Ward, Minnesota’s Amir Coffey and Nebraska’s James Palmer Jr. to the third team. The media also picked Langford and teammate Juwan Morgan while the coaches picked Iowa’s Jordan Bohannon.
Since D’Angelo Russell was a first-team all-conference player in 2015, the Buckeyes had two earn all-league honors last season: Keita Bates-Diop was named to the first team by the coaches and media and Jae’Sean Tate earned second-team honors as voted by the coaches.
In the two seasons in between, the Buckeyes failed to reach the NCAA Tournament.
Brazdeikis was named Big Ten freshman of the year and he was joined on the first team by Illinois’ Ayo Dosunmu, Indiana’s Romeo Langford, Iowa’s Joe Wieskamp and Maryland’s Jalen Smith.
Penn State’s Josh Reaves was named defensive player of the year. The all-defensive team also included Purdue’s Nojel Eastern and Michigan State’s Matt McQuaid.
Purdue coach Matt Painter was named coach of the year, the fourth time he has won the award. Ohio State coach Chris Holtmann won it last season.
@AdamJardy