Iowa State Basketball Star Joshua Jefferson Named Second-Team All-American

As the Iowa State Cyclones prepare for the NCAA tournament, their star player received a great honor for what was a fantastic regular season.

With March Madness officially here and the Cyclones hoping for a great run in the tournament, they must also recognize what a great regular season it was that got them to where they are now.

Iowa State started the year with an impressive 16-0, which was a program record. Along the way, they picked up some signature out-of-conference wins against the Purdue Boilermakers and the St. John’s Red Storm. With both of those teams having high hopes as well for the NCAA tournament, those were impressive performances looking back.

The challenging Big 12 and a tough schedule helped contribute to some losses in conference play, especially on the road. Despite some struggles down the stretch, the team did pick up some momentum in the Big 12 tournament and are feeling good heading into March Madness.

Furthermore, one player in particular who should be feeling good is Joshua Jefferson. The star forward for the team was recently named as a second-team All-American.

High Honor for Jefferson

🚨 AP ALL-AMERICAN SECOND-TEAM 🚨

🏀 Joshua Jefferson
🏀 Braden Smith
🏀 Jeremy Fears
🏀 Keaton Wagler
🏀 Caleb Wilson pic.twitter.com/laXMVqtmuC
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 17, 2026

As one of the best players in the country this campaign, Jefferson being named an All-American shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. To begin the year, he was in the early National Player of the Year conversation with Cameron Boozer of the Duke Blue Devils. While he might have regressed a bit in conference play, especially, it was still a great all-around year.

Jefferson is averaging 16.9 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 4.9 assists per game. As a power forward, he is one of the best all-around players in the country, and his passing ability, especially, is impressive. The Cyclones being able to run offense through him has been a massive luxury at times, especially in the halfcourt.

Joining Jefferson on the second team are some of the best players in the country, like Caleb Wilson, Keaton Wagler, Jeremy Fears, and Braden Smith. This is a huge honor for the senior forward of Iowa State, and it is also a nice thing for the program. Having players land as All-Americans is an excellent selling point for why playing in Ames can be great.

While being named to the All-American second-team is a great honor, Jefferson will now be focused on helping lead his team to a successful run in the NCAA tournament.