Stewart Makes the Cut to 10 Jabbar Award Finalists
While the Washington basketball team has received few rewards lately, Isaiah Stewart continues to hold his own in garnering positive recognition.
The precocious freshman center from Rochester, New York, has been announced as one of 10 finalists for the 2020 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award, a list pared from 20 on Friday.
The 6-foot-9 Stewart, who leads the Huskies (12-11 overall, 2-8 Pac-12) with 17.7 points and 8.8 rebounds per game heading into Sunday's game at Washington State, is one of three freshmen among the Jabbar finalists, and one of two Pac-12 players to make the cut.
Other first-year players are Duke's 6-10 Vernon Carey Jr. and USC's 6-9 Onyeka Okongwu.
The award list will be whittled to five in mid-March by a panel committee.
Stewart comes off a game against Arizona in which he was bottled up by the defense and not as effective as usual for 20 minutes, but he came out very determined in the second half.
"(Assistant coach Cameron Dollar) said even though they're playing me a different way or being more physical, or double- or triple-teaming me, I'd become passive and moved away from from the ball," the big man said. "I just need to play. I came out and just went at it."
Stewart has gone head to head with two of the Jabbar finalists, outplaying USC's Okongwu and Gonzaga's 6-11 sophomore Flip Petrosev in home match-ups.
The UW big man supplied 18 points and 10 rebounds in a 72-40 victory over the Trojans while Okongwu was limited to 10 points and 9 rebounds.
Stewart collected 21 points and 10 rebounds in an 83-76 defeat to Gonzaga, a game in which Petrosev had 17 points and 10 boards.
Others among the Jabbar finalists are Udoka Azubuike, Kansas; Luke Garza, Iowa; Nathan Knight, William and Mary; Daniel Otaru, Minnesota; Kaleb Wesson, Ohio State; and Omer Yurtseven, Georgetown.
