March 5, 2012

PARK RIDGE, Ill. -- Fresh off winning a share of its first Big Ten championship in 26 years, the University of Michigan men's basketball team had a trio of players earn all-conference honors in freshman Trey Burke (Columbus, Ohio/Northland HS), sophomore Tim Hardaway Jr. (Miami, Fla./Palmetto Senior HS) and senior Zack Novak (Chesterton, Ind./Chesterton HS) on Monday (March 5). Additionally, senior Stu Douglass (Carmel, Ind./Carmel HS) was named U-M's Sportsmanship honoree.

Burke highlights the Wolverine honorees with four awards -- Freshman of the Year by the media, All-Big Ten second team from coaches and media, and a unanimous selection to the all-freshman team. Hardaway earned All-Big Ten third team (coaches and media) honors, while Novak was All-Big Ten honorable mention (media).

Burke becomes the sixth Wolverine to earn Freshman of the Year after averaging 14.6 points, 3.4 rebounds and 4.6 assists. He earned eight conference honors during the season, hauling in seven Freshman of the Week citations and one Player of the Week award.

Burke scored in double figures 28 times, breaking the 20-point barrier four times, including a career-high 27 against Minnesota. With his 144 assists, Burke broke U-M's 27-year-old record for freshman assists in a single season, previously held by U-M legend Gary Grant (140, 1984-85).

Hardaway earns All-Big Ten honors for the second straight season. Starting all 31 games, he has averaged 14.5 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game. He recorded two double-doubles on the season and produced 24 double-figure scoring games with five 20-plus point games. He earned all-tournament honors at the Maui Invitational en route to the Big Ten's Player of the Week honor.

In his final season in the Maize and Blue, Novak earns All-Big Ten honors for the first time after posting 9.5 points and 4.6 rebounds per game. During the season, he became the 45th Wolverine to reach 1,000 career points and the 40th to reach 500 career rebounds. A three-time captain, Novak was the first Wolverine to earn Academic All-America honors since 1984 and is a finalist for the Lowe's CLASS Award.

Douglass earns U-M's Sportsmanship award for the second straight season. A two-time captain, he is averaging 7.7 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game.

Michigan has secured a first-round bye and the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament being held Thursday through Sunday, March 8-11, at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind. U-M will open play on Friday (March 9) at 6:30 p.m. against the winner of Minnesota and Northwestern. The game will be televised on the Big Ten Network.

2011-12 ALL-BIG TEN MEN'S BASKETBALL AWARDS
(UNANIMOUS SELECTIONS IN ALL CAPS)

Contact: Tom Wywrot, Whitney Dixon (734) 763-4423