CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The ACC unveiled its end-of-season awards on Monday, and Ebuka Okorie was selected to the All-ACC first team and All-ACC Rookie team.
The Cardinal has a first-team honoree for the second consecutive season, as Maxime Raynaud was selected to the first team a year ago. Stanford joins only Duke with a first team honoree in each of the past two seasons, while Okorie also becomes the Cardinal’s first All-Rookie pick since joining the conference. The all-conference announcement comes on the heels of Benny Gealer winning ACC Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Ebuka Okorie has dazzled for the Cardinal this season with averages of 23.1 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.6 steals per game. He ranks fifth nationally in scoring and second among freshmen, trailing only BYU's AJ Dybantsa nationally, and he leads the ACC, just ahead of Duke's Cameron Boozer, who earned the ACC’s top honors. Okorie's seven 30-point games are tied for the most by any freshman in ACC history with Marvin Bagley III (Duke) in 2017-18, and fourth in the conference's overall history. His scoring average is on pace to pass Duke’s RJ Barrett for the top mark in ACC history by any freshman player.
In conference games only, Okorie led the ACC with 23.3 points per game while ranking 14th in field goal percentage (46.7%), 22nd in 3-point percentage (37.5%) and eighth in free throw percentage (84.8%). Okorie was the only player in the ACC to meet his marks in all three categories. He is a three-time ACC Rookie of the Week as well as a selection to the Naismith Trophy Men's College Player of the Year Late-Season Team.
He would be the first freshman to meet his averages in points, rebounds, assists and steals, nationally, since Oklahoma's Trae Young and Howard's RJ Cole in 2017-18 and the first player of any season since Murray State's Ja Morant in 2018-19. The last ACC freshmen guards to average at least 20 points per game were Kenny Anderson (Georgia Tech, 1989-90) and Mark Price (Georgia Tech, 1982-83).
Okorie has toppled the Stanford freshman scoring record three times this season. First, he broke the standard with 32 points against Colorado (Dec. 20) and then topped his own mark with 36 points against North Carolina (Jan. 14). Scoring 40 points against Georgia Tech (Feb. 7), Okorie became the first Stanford player with a 40-point game since Casey Jacobsen scored 41 on Feb. 7, 2002 vs. Oregon, and Okorie’s performance is the ninth in program history with at least 40 points. He was just the fifth (now six) freshman in ACC history to score 40 points in a game, joining Cooper Flagg, Tyler Hansbrough, Harrison Barnes and Olivier Hanlan, and since, Mikel Brown Jr.
Ascending through the Stanford record books, Okorie has risen to eighth in Stanford history in points in a season, 63 away from the top spot, and first in freshman history. His current scoring average of 23.1 points per game would rank second all-time, trailing only Adam Keefe (25.3, 1991-92) and just ahead of Landry Fields (22.0, 2009-20) and Casey Jacobsen (21.9, 2001-02). Okorie already owns the program's scoring records by a freshman, both in a game and over the course of a season.
The nation’s co-leader in games with 25 or more points (14), and with the most among major conference players, Okorie’s improvement has steadily continued throughout the season. The Nashua, New Hampshire native has averaged 26.2 points and 4.3 assists per game over the last 10 games on shooting splits of 53.5 percent from the floor, 50.9 percent from beyond the arc, and 86.7 percent at the free throw line.
Okorie received one vote for ACC Player of the Year and three votes for ACC Rookie of the Year, while Jeremy Dent-Smith earned two votes for ACC Sixth Man of the Year.