(SportsRadio 610) - Houston Cougars senior guard Marcus Sasser earned the postseason honor of being named a first team All-American by the Associated Press on Tuesday.
Sasser is the first Cougars player named to the All-American first team since Hakeem Olajuwon in the 1983-84 season.
The Cougar guard joins Zach Eddy (Purdue/C), Jalen Wilson (Kansas/G), Trayce Jackson-Davis (Indiana/F) and Brandon Miller (Alabama/F) on the All-American first team squad.
Deciding to return for his senior season following a demoralizing injury that cut short last year, Sasser put together another terrific campaign in 2022-‘23.
Recently named the American Athletic Conference’s Player of the Year this season, Sasser has averaged 17.1 points per game on 38.3% shooting from beyond the arc this season.
He’s finished the regular season inside the top 10 in multiple other categories as well: free throw percentage (84%, 6th), three-point field goals per game (2.7, 5th), steals per game (1.7, 7th) and assist-turnover ratio (1.98, 5th).
Sasser also posted a dozen 20-point games this season, including a career high 31 points against South Florida back in January.
Earlier this season, Sasser became the 50th player in Cougar basketball history to score 1,000 points in a career and currently ranks 17th amongst Cougars all-time leading scorers with 1,417 points to date.
Sasser also sits atop the program's all-time leaderboard for most made three-pointers in his career at Houston, currently with 268 makes from beyond the arc.
Meanwhile, as the Cougars get set to embark on what they hope is another deep run in the tournament this season, Sasser is hoping to be as close to full strength as possible by Thursday, after sustaining a groin injury during the AAC tournament. They take on 16-seed Northern Kentucky in the first round.
Tip-off for the first round action Thursday, March 15 for the Cougars is set for 8:20 p.m. CT from Birmingham, Alabama.