MEN'S HOOP BLOG By for WVUsports.com March 06, 2012 09:16 PM

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West Virginia coach Bob Huggins offers his views on Big East player of the year voting at the team hotel in New York City.

MEN'S HOOP BLOG By John Antonik for WVUsports.com March 06, 2012 03:47 PM

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West Virginia coach Bob Huggins met with media members at the basketball hall of traditions before the team departed for New York City on Monday.

MEN'S HOOP BLOG By John Antonik for WVUsports.com March 06, 2012 09:50 AM

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Kevin Jones

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University senior forward Kevin Jones was named to the Sporting News All-America basketball third team, announced today.

Jones averaged 20 points and 11.2 rebounds per game during the regular season to lead all Big East players in both categories. In fact, Jones could become only the third player in conference history to lead the league in those two categories (the other two were Troy Murphy and Walter Berry) at the same time.

This week, the Mt. Vernon, N.Y., native is the nation’s leading offensive rebounder and is second in double-doubles, third in field goals made, fifth in rebounding and 15th in scoring.

Jones took a very young team and put it on his back this year, scoring a career-high 30 points in an overtime win at Kansas State and topping 20 points in a game 19 times, including a stretch of nine consecutive games from Jan. 7 to Feb. 5.

He had 28 points and 17 rebounds in an overtime loss to Baylor, scored 26 and grabbed 13 boards in an overtime win over Cincinnati and had 22 points and 16 rebounds in a big home victory over nationally ranked Georgetown.

Jones is one of just two players in school history (Hall of Famer Jerry West is the other) to score more than 1,700 points and pull down more than 1,000 rebounds. With his next basket, Jones will pass All-American guard Rod Thorn for sixth place on WVU’s career scoring chart. Thorn presently occupies that spot with 1,785 career points.

Earlier this week, he became the eighth (and final) Mountaineer player to earn first team all-Big East honors and the school’s sixth since 2006.

West Virginia opens Big East tournament play on Wednesday against either Connecticut or DePaul at noon. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN.

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