TUCSON, Ariz. - On Tuesday, the Collegiate Sports Communicators (CSC) announced its annual list of Academic All-Americans and Arizona senior forward Tobe Awaka was named to the second team.
It is the first Academic All-American honor for Awaka and he is the sixth player in program history to earn the distinction, joining Warren Rustand, Bob Elliott, Jim Rappis, Matt Muehlebach and Pelle Larsson. Elliot was a three-time honoree in 1975, 1976 and 1977.
Awaka nearly averaged a double-double (9.3 points, 9.1 rebounds) while coming off the bench in 36 of 39 games this season and helping the Wildcats to their first Final Four appearance since 2001. He was named Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year and Honorable Mention All-Big 12 for his efforts as well.
He ranked second in the Big 12 in rebounding and led the country in offensive rebounding percentage (20.2%). He recorded eight double-doubles on the season and finished his career with 19 double-doubles. He posted career highs in total rebounds, assists and blocked shots in 2025-26 and was 5 of 12 from the 3-point line.
To be eligible for CSC Academic All-American honors, a student-athlete must meet the following criteria:
Academic eligibility:
- An undergraduate student-athlete must have at least a 3.50 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.0 scale).
- A graduate student-athlete must have at least a 3.50 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) as both an undergraduate and a grad student unless they are in their first semester as a graduate student and don't have an established graduate GPA.
- The cumulative grade point average may not be rounded up to 3.50.
- First-semester transfers: See the information, below, for how to submit their GPA.
Academic standing:
- Student-athletes must be at least a sophomore academically and athletically.
- Nominee must be enrolled at their institution at the time of nomination as either an undergraduate or graduate student. Only the school at which an athlete competed in the current academic year can nominate that player.
- Student-athletes who have graduated from their own institution during the current academic year and are not competing in athletics at another institution at the time of nomination are eligible.
- Transfer student-athletes are immediately eligible. If your transfer student-athletes (undergraduates or graduates) are in their first semester at your institution, you must use their cumulative undergraduate GPA and cumulative graduate GPA (if grad GPA is applicable) from their former institution — which meets the 3.50 cumulative GPA — to be considered for Academic All-District/Academic All-America status. This would be the GPA or GPAs they used when gaining admittance to your institution. If your transfer student-athlete has a GPA at your institution, then you take the COMBINED cumulative GPA (from all institutions) and use that in your nomination process. (You cannot just select their GPA at your institution to date.)
Athletic eligibility:
- Student-athletes must be at least a sophomore academically and athletically
- Must compete in 90 percent of the insitutions games or start at least 66 percent of the institution's games
Arizona Men's Basketball CoSIDS/CSC Academic All-Americans
Warren Rustand (1964-65)
Bob Elliott (1974-75, 1975-76, 1976-77)
Jim Rappis (1975-76)
Matt Muehlebach (1990-91)
Pelle Larsson (2023-24)
Tobe Awaka (2025-26)
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