Player of the Year Hillmon Headlines Michigan's Big Ten Honorees
3/8/2021 5:20:00 PM | Women's Basketball
ROSEMONT, Ill. -- University of Michigan junior Naz Hillmon was named the Big Ten Conference women's basketball Player of the Year by the coaches and media, becoming just the second player in Big Ten history to earn Freshman, Sixth Player and Player of the Year honors in a career, as announced by the conference Monday (March 8).
Hillmon is the first Wolverine in program history to earn Player of the Year honors. She also grabbed unanimous first-team all-conference honors by both the coaches and media, joining Katelynn Flaherty (2016-18) as Wolverines to earn three consensus All-Big Ten first-team nods during a career.
In addition to Hillmon, junior Leigha Brown nabbed a spot on the All-Big Ten second team by both the coaches and the media, graduate student Akienreh Johnson was named to the All-Defensive team by the league coaches, and senior Hailey Brown was recognized as Michigan's sportsmanship honoree.
Hillmon averaged 25.1 points and 11.3 rebounds in 32.9 minutes per game over the regular season, shooting 64.5 percent from the field. She ranks second in the conference in scoring and field goal percentage, while leading the conference in rebounding, double-doubles (12), offensive rebounds (4.9 rpg) and free throw attempts (148). Hillmon became the first player this season to score 50 points in a game, going for 50 points and 16 rebounds at Ohio State (Jan. 21), and recorded the second 30-20 game in program history with 35 points and 22 rebounds against Nebraska (Jan. 7). She was named the Big Ten Player of the Week three times, the ESPNW Player of the Week twice and the USBWA Ann Meyers Drysdale National Player of the Week. She is one of five finalists for the Katrina McClain Award and appears on the national ballot for the Wooden Award.
Leigha Brown was a consensus pick for the second team after averaging 17.4 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 33.0 minutes per game. She has scored in double figures 13 times this season, including reaching the 20-point mark six times. Brown, who earned All-Big Ten honorable mention last season while playing for Nebraska, was named the Big Ten Player of the Week on Jan. 4 after going for 22 points on 8-for-10 shooting from the floor in a Michigan win at then-No. 15 Northwestern.
Johnson was named to the All-Defensive Team by the coaches, becoming the third player in program history to earn a spot and the first since Jillian Dunston during the 2017-18 season. Johnson was often tasked with guarding the other team's best perimeter player, and she averaged a career-best 11.3 points per game. She reached double figures in scoring 11 times this season, most recently just missing a double-double with 19 points and nine rebounds against Northwestern (March 6).
Hailey Brown was Michigan's sportsmanship honoree after starting all 18 games and averaging 8.0 points and 4.0 rebounds in 28.6 minutes per game. She led Michigan in three-pointers during the regular season with 24 and is ranked 10th all-time at U-M with 134 triples.
Michigan completed a 14-4 regular season and finished fourth in the Big Ten with a 9-4 mark. U-M secured the No. 4 seed for the upcoming Big Ten Tournament and will play Thursday (March 11) against either No. 5 seed Northwestern, No. 12 seed Wisconsin or No. 13 seed Illinois. The game will begin 25 minutes after the completion of the first game, set for 11 a.m.
• Big Ten Release
