MBB: Elijah Pepper and Ezra Manjon Earn All-Conference Honors
Mar 8, 2021, 11:31 AM | Updated: 11:31 am
DAVIS, Calif. – Guards Elijah Pepper and Ezra Manjon earned Big West All-Conference Second Team accolades when league officials announced their year-end honor roll on Monday. Of the 11 combined players named to the First or Second Team, Manjon and Pepper are the only sophomores as the remaining All-Conference selections are comprised by four seniors and five juniors.
Pepper is one of the Big West’s most dangerous scorers — he is ranked No. 2 at 16.6 ppg — who possesses one of the most well-rounded and versatile skill sets in the conference. Not only does he lead all players in steals (2.5/gm.), he also ranks No. 2 in three-pointers per game (2.6), No. 4 in three-point percentage (.464), No. 5 in free throw percentage (.897), No. 7 in defensive rebounds (4.5) and No. 8 in total rebounds per game (5.9) against BWC opponents.
Ranked No. 6 in scoring at 14.8 ppg, Manjon scored 20 or more points four times this season and finished with double-figure totals in 15 of 16 games. That scoring average is one of numerous top-10 figures, among all BWC players, since he enters this week’s conference tournament at No. 7 in free throw percentage (.860), No. 8 in assists per game (3.2) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.6:1).
By winning six of its final seven games of the season, UC Davis will enter the upcoming Big West Men’s Basketball Championship as the event’s No. 4 seed, and face No. 5 seed CSU Bakersfield in Thursday’s 2 p.m. quarterfinal at the Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.