WASHINGTON, D.C., April 2, 2019 – The Associated Press (AP) unveiled its 2018-19 men's basketball All-American honorees on Tuesday, where Howard University sophomore guard RJ Cole earned honorable mention.
In his sophomore campaign, Cole took home Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Player of the Year after winning the league's top weekly award five times. He also became the fastest Bison in school history to 1,000 career points in only 44 games and 728 this season alone.
The New Jersey native led the conference in scoring (21.4 ppg) with 21 20-point performances, including a season-high 36 points in the road win at Norfolk State (March 7). Cole rounded out his sophomore campaign averaging 6.41 assists per game and 1.88 steals with a 2.0 assist-to-turnover ratio. Through his efforts, the Bison standout assisted the squad lead the league in scoring offense with a 78.9 scoring average.
Cole is only MEAC student-athlete to receive this accolade this year and he joins Texas Southern's Jermey Combs as the only two HBCU student-athletes on the list.
Recently, Cole was voted HBCU Men's Basketball Player of the Year by ESPN's Undefeated while being named to the 2018-19 National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division I All-District Team, alongside backcourt mate junior Charles Williams.
Duke's duo of RJ Barrett and Zion Williamson headlined the day, becoming the second freshmen teammates to make the first team in the same season. They were joined by Tennessee's Grant Williams, Michigan State's Cassius Winston and Murray State's Ja Morant.
This season, Howard (17-17) played in their first postseason tournament since 1992, the same season they won the MEAC Title. HU's 17-win mark is only the second time in the last 37 years that the Bison have notched that achievement.
2019 AP Men's Basketball All-America Teams
First Team
Zion Williamson, Duke, freshman
Grant Williams, Tennessee, junior
RJ Barrett, Duke, freshman
Ja Morant, Murray State, sophomore
Cassius Winston, Michigan State, junior
Second Team
Rui Hachimura, Gonzaga, junior
Jarrett Culver, Texas Tech, sophomore
Markus Howard, Marquette, junior
Ethan Happ, Wisconsin, senior
Carsen Edwards, Purdue, junior
Third Team
De'Andre Hunter, Virginia, junior
Dedric Lawson, Kansas, junior
Brandon Clarke, Gonzaga, junior
PJ Washington, Kentucky, sophomore
Kyle Guy, Virginia, junior
Honorable Mention (alphabetical order)
Keith Braxton, St. Francis (Pa.); Ignas Brazdeikis, Michigan; Tookie Brown, Georgia Southern; Chris Clemons, Campbell; RJ Cole, Howard; Jeremy Combs, Texas Southern; Jarron Cumberland, Cincinnati; Mike Daum, South Dakota State; Jordan Davis, Northern Colorado; Cameron Delaney, Sam Houston State; Lamine Diane, Cal State Northridge; Daniel Gafford, Arkansas; Jon Axel Gudmundsson, Davidson; Rapolas Ivanauskas, Colgate; Ty Jerome, Virginia; Cameron Johnson, North Carolina; Anthony Lamb, Vermont; Fletcher Magee, Wofford; Caleb Martin, Nevada; CJ Massinburg, Buffalo; Garrison Mathews, Lipscomb; Luke Maye, North Carolina; Drew McDonald, Northern Kentucky; Sam Merrill, Utah State; Jaylen Nowell, Washington; Miye Oni, Yale; Shamorie Ponds, St. John's; Myles Powell, Seton Hall; Admiral Schofield, Tennessee; Marial Shayok, Iowa State; B.J. Stith, Old Dominion; Matisse Thybulle, Washington; Jake Toolson, Utah Valley; Marques Townes, Loyola of Chicago; Tremont Waters, LSU; Coby White, North Carolina; Justin Wright-Foreman, Hofstra; Cameron Young, Quinnipiac.