KANSAS CITY, Mo. – San Diego State sophomore forward Jalen McDaniels has been named to the NABC all-District 17 first team, the National Association of Basketball Coaches announced Thursday. It is the first NABC all-district honor for McDaniels.
The Federal Way, Wash., native averaged 15.9 points and led the team with 281 total rebounds (8.3 avg.) as a starter in all 34 games this season, while shooting 46.6 percent from the field and 73.2 percent from the line. McDaniels totaled 11 double-doubles, including a streak of six straight earlier this year. McDaniels finished the season with the second-most minutes per game (31), tied for first in steals (38) and tied for third in blocked shots (16). He also led the team in rebounding in 22 of 34 games and led SDSU in scoring in 13 matchups.
The sophomore forward recorded 30 double-digit scoring games, scoring 20 or more points in nine of those contests. McDaniels was named Mountain West Player of the Week two weeks straight following a stellar performance in the team's late-January victory over UNLV when he recorded a career-high 30 points in addition to 13 rebounds, four assists and five steals in the game, becoming the first player in the nation to record at least that many in each category since LSU's Ben Simmons on Dec. 2, 2015, who went on to be the No. 1 NBA Draft pick in 2016.
McDaniels racked up several postseason awards when he was named to the all-Mountain West second team by both the league's head coaches and media, and was one of two Aztecs selected for the all-MW tournament team (also Devin Watson) following the team's run to their fifth MW Championship game in six years.
McDaniels is the first Aztec to earn all-District recognition since 2017 when Trey Kell was named to the second team. The last SDSU player to earn first-team honors was JJ O'Brien in 2015. The sophomore's first-team selection is the 18th in program history in the Division I era, won by just 14 Aztec student-athletes.
NABC District 17
First Team
Jordan Caroline (Nevada), Caleb Martin (Nevada), Sam Merrill (Utah State), Braxton Huggins (Fresno State), Jalen McDaniels (San Diego State).
Second Team
Deshon Taylor (Fresno State), Justin James (Wyoming), Nico Carvacho (Colorado State), Cody Martin (Nevada), Neemias Queta (Utah State).