NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — Three members of the Tulane University men’s basketball team have been recognized by the American Athletic Conference for their individual regular season performances.
Freshman Jalen Cook earned a First Team All-AAC selection, sophomore Jaylen Forbes was named a Second Team All-AAC honoree and sophomore Kevin Cross was tabbed as Third Team All-AAC and named the Most Improved Player of the Year, the league announced on Wednesday.
Cook earned First Team All-AAC honors after averaging 18.0 points and 3.5 assists per game this season. He connected for a 42.9 percent clip from the field and shot 39.1 percent from beyond the arc. Cook ranked second in the conference in scoring and was the highest-scoring freshman throughout the season. The Walker, Louisiana native finished the regular season ranked in the top 10 in the conference in 11 categories. Cook earned AAC Weekly Honor Roll Selections three times and was the AAC player of the week twice during the season.
Forbes was selected Second Team All-AAC after posting 16.6 points per game on 43.3 percent shooting from the field and 39.7 percent from three-point range. At the conclusion of the regular season, he ranked fourth in the conference in points per game, first in minutes per game, third in three-point percentage as well as ranked in the top 10 in nine other categories.
The Florence, Mississippi native has made 50 straight starts for the Green Wave and scored in double figures 22 times this season. Forbes was named to the AAC Weekly Honor Roll three times this season, most recently on February 6th after his 26-point performance versus ECU where he averaged 63.6 percent from the field and 60.0 percent from beyond the arc. Forbes enters the postseason at 905 career points.
Sophomore Kevin Cross was named Third Team All-AAC after posting 13.8 points per game and leading the conference in field goal percentage at 50.4 percent. Cross reached double figures 22 times this season, recorded three double-doubles and was the only Tulane player to record double-digit assists on the season. The Little Rock, Arkansas native also led the league in defensive rebounds averaging 5.8 per game and ranked in the top 10 in the American in 10 other categories. Cross was also named to the AAC Weekly Honor Roll once this season on January 10th, after averaging 17.0 points and 6.1 rebounds versus both ECU and USF.
Cross was also tabbed as the Most Improved Player of the year after showing improvement in every statistical category this season. The sophomore averaged 13.8 points per game and 6.8 rebounds in the regular season after averaging 6.9 points and 4.7 rebounds last year. Cross also made the jump from shooting 36.1 percent from the field to his league-leading 50.4 percent.
The Green Wave begins AAC Tournament play on Friday, March 11, at 2 p.m. in Fort Worth, Texas. Tulane will face Temple in the quarterfinals of the tournament. The game will be aired live on ESPN2.