Jekiri Semifinalist for Eddie Sutton Award
TULSA, Okla. – University of Miami senior Tonye Jekiri is one of 11 college basketball players selected as semifinalists for the sixth Eddie Sutton Tustenugee Award, according to CBS host and analyst Doug Gottlieb and Tulsa Sports Charities.
The award singles out a player who exhibits the traits of tenacity and unselfishness that Sutton advocated during his 36-year coaching career that included more than 800 victories.
Jekiri averages 9.3 rebounds, 8.1 points and 1.1 blocks per game for the 12th-ranked Hurricanes and is one of the top candidates for the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Defensive Player of the Year Award, Coach Jim Larrañaga said Wednesday afternoon.
“If he’s not the ACC Defensive Player of the Year, I don’t know who is,” said Larrañaga. “I don’t know where we would even be without him. We wouldn’t be one of those six teams vying for the regular-season title. We’d be at the bottom of this league.”
He has pulled down at least 10 rebounds in 15 games, including eight games with 12-or-more. In 131 games at Miami Jekiri has grabbed 852 rebounds, seventh-most in Miami history. He has improved his rebounds per game from 1.6 as a rookie to 9.3 as a senior. He also has grabbed double-digit rebounds in 37 games over the past two seasons (64 games played), after doing so just three times in his first 67 outings.
“It is really hard to put a number on how much he impacts the game,” added Larrañaga.
About the Award
Gottlieb played for Sutton at Oklahoma State University (1998-2000), and oversees a panel of national media members who cover college basketball. Following the panel’s final selection, Gottlieb will present the award during the Tulsa Sports Charities celebrity golf tournament May 16 at Cedar Ridge Country Club.
The award is sponsored by the John and Jerry Marshall Foundation of Tulsa. John Marshall was a roommate of Sutton at OSU in the 1950s.
In the language of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, one of the Five Civilized Tribes that settled in Oklahoma, “tustenugee” means “warrior.”
Tulsa Sports Charities is a 10-year-old non-profit organization with a track record for hosting blue-ribbon events and gold-medal athletes while delivering some $900,000 in scholarships and donations to area universities and charitable activities.
The semifinalists
Ryan Archidiacono, Villanova, 6-3, senior, guard
Zach Auguste, Notre Dame, 6-10, senior, forward
Michael Carrera, South Carolina, 6-5, senior, forward
Matt Costello, Michigan State, 6-9, senior, forward
Tonye Jekiri, Miami (Fla.), 7-0, senior, center
Roosevelt Jones, Butler, 6-4, senior, guard/forward
Frank Mason III, Kansas, 5-11, junior, guard
Marshall Plumlee, Duke, 7-0, grad, center
Tyler Ulis, Kentucky, 5-9, sophomore, guard
Justin Sears, Yale, 6-8, senior, forward
Thomas Walkup, Stephen F. Austin, 6-4, senior, forward
Previous Winners
2011 – Matt Howard, Butler
2012 – Quincy Acy, Baylor
2013 – Victor Oladipo, Indiana
2014 – Josh Davis, San Diego State
2015 – T.J. McConnell, Arizona
