Nick Seeman
Assistant Athletic Director, Communications
University of Wyoming Athletics
LARAMIE, Wyo. (March 8, 2021) – University of Wyoming freshman Marcus Williams was named the Mountain West Freshman of the Year by media covering the conference on Monday. He also earned Third-Team All-Mountain West honors. Junior Hunter Maldonado was named Honorable Mention All-MW. The all-conference awards as voted by the head coaches will be announced Tuesday.
Williams is the fourth Cowboy in school history to be named Freshman of the Year and the third Poke to do so in the Mountain West. The last was Afam Muojeke in 2009 with Jay Straight earning it in 2002. In 1995, LaDrell Whitehead was named Western Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year.
Williams, a native of Dickinson, Texas averaged 14.9 points per game on the season for No. 12 in the Conference. He also added four assists per game, which ranked fourth in the league. Williams shot 45 percent from the field for the season for sixth in the conference. He also shot 71 percent from the free throw line for tenth in the league.
The guard scored in double-figures 19 times on the season. He scored 20 or more points in five games this season including a career-high 30 points against Denver. He was named the MW Player of the Week on Jan. 25 after leading the Pokes to a sweep of Nevada, as he scored 28 points against the Wolf Pack in the series finale.
Junior Hunter Maldonado was named Honorable Mention All-MW, as he earned third team honors by the media last season. He is second on the Pokes in scoring this season at 12.3 points per game. He led the Cowboys in rebounds this season at 6.8 per game, which ranked seventh in the MW. He ranked third in the conference in assists per game at 4.6.
Maldonado ranked fourth in the conference in assist to turnover ratio at 1.7. He finished the regular season placing in the top-10 in 11 categories in the conference.
He has recorded two double-doubles on the season for the Brown and Gold to rank tenth in the conference. Earlier this season, Maldonado reached 1,000 career points.
Wyoming will head to Las Vegas to take part in the 2021 Air Force Reserve MW Basketball Championship at the Thomas and Mack Center. The Cowboys will open on Wednesday in the first round of the tournament against San Jose State at noon MT on the Mountain West Network.
