Cade Cunningham Named Naismith Trophy Finalist

(Oklahoma State athletics media relations contributed to this article)

Oklahoma State star freshman Cade Cunningham has been tabbed one of four finalists for the 2021 Naismith Trophy, the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced on Friday.

Cunningham is looking to become just the second player ever, joining Shane Battier, to win both the Naismith High School and College trophy. Cunningham was tabbed the 2020 Naismith High School Trophy winner after his senior season at Montverde.

The other finalists for the award are Ayo Dosunmu from Illinois, Luka Garza from Iowa and Corey Kispert from Gonzaga.

The Naismith finalists emerged from a group of 10 semifinalists and were selected by the Atlanta Tipoff Club’s national voting academy, comprised of leading journalists from around the country, current and former head coaches, former award winners and conference commissioners, all of whom base their selections on outstanding on-court performances during the 2020-21 college basketball season.

The next round of voting runs from March 19-31, with the winner being announced live on CBS Sports Network’s NCAA March Madness 360 studio show on April 3.

So far after the end of the regular season, Cunningham has been named the Big 12 Freshman and Player of the Year, becoming just the fourth player in conference history to sweep the award in the same season. He’s also been tabbed a First Team All-American by the NABC, the Associated Press, the United States Basketball Writers Association and the Sporting News.

In being tabbed an AP First Team All-American, Cunningham became the first Cowboy in program history to earn the distinction.

Cunningham has had a stellar freshman season. He led the Big 12 in scoring with 20.2 points per game this season, as well as 6.3 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.4 steals and 0.8 blocks per game. According to Oklahoma State Athletics media relations, Cunningham became just the third freshman in OSU history to score 500 points in a season and needs just 16 more points to become the highest scoring freshman in program history.

Cunningham will get his chance at becoming the highest-scoring freshman in Oklahoma State history Friday evening at 5:25 p.m. CT as the Pokes are set to face Liberty in the opening round of the NCAA tournament.

This is the first tournament appearance for the Pokes since 2017.