In another sign of the improvement of the Gophers men’s basketball team this season, three players were honored as all-Big Ten Conference performers on Tuesday.

Forward Dawson Garcia was named to the all-Big Ten second team by media members and third team by conference coaches; point guard Elijah Hawkins was honorable mention all-Big Ten by both coaches and reporters, and shooting guard Cam Christie was named to the all-Big Ten freshman team.

Last season, only Garcia was honored by the conference, with the Savage native earning honorable mention nods from both coaches and reporters.

“I’m really proud of them, and I want them to be (proud),” head coach Ben Johnson said. “We had multiple guys that could have had an opportunity to be all-league. Dawson is very deserving of that. Cam is very deserving of being on the all-freshman team. Elijah is very deserving of being honorable mention. Hopefully some other guys are hungry to get some of those next year.”

Garcia leads the Gophers with averages of 17.7 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. Christ was second in scoring at 11.3 points per game, including 40 percent shooting from 3-point range. Hawkins led the U with 7.5 assists per game. He also averages 9.4 points per game.

Forward Parker Fox, who overcame two season-ending knee injuries, also received the U’s sponsorship award. Fox has averaged 4.7 points and 3.1 rebounds in all 31 regular-season games.

The ninth-seeded Gophers (18-13, 9-11 Big Ten) will play eight-seeded Michigan State (18-13, 10-10) at 11 a.m. Thursday in the second round of the Big Ten tournament at Target Center. The winner will play top-seeded Purdue (28-3, 17-3) at 11 a.m. Friday.

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