PJ Haggerty earns second-team All-America selection by The Sporting News

PJ Haggerty earned another major honor Wednesday morning.

One day after the 6-foot-3 guard won the American Athletic Conference (AAC) Player of the Year Award, he notched a second-team All-America selection by The Sporting News—one four outlets the NCAA uses to recognize its consensus All-America teams. The other three are the Associated Press (AP), the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and the United States Basketball Writers Associations (USBWA).

Haggerty averaged 21.2 points (No. 5 in Division I), 5.5 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.8 steals while shooting 49.1% from the field and 41.8% at the 3-point line in the regular season. He’s also a candidate for several other national accolades, such as the John R. Wooden Award (top-15 finalist), the Jerry West Award (top-5 finalist), the Oscar Robertson Trophy (midseason watchlist) and the Naismith Trophy (midseason watchlist).

“It’s a blessing, just being in the position I am. It wouldn’t be [possible] without my team, coaches and the hard work I put in,” Haggerty said Tuesday.

The redshirt sophomore is Memphis’ first All-America selection of any kind since Kendric Davis made The Sporting News’ third team in 2022-23. He could become the program’s seventh all-time consensus All-American, should he make the AP, NABC and USBWA teams. Memphis’ current six are Keith Lee (1983, 1984 and 1985), Penny Hardaway (1991), Larry Finch (1973), Chris Douglas-Roberts (2008), Rodney Carney (2006) and Lorenzen Wright (1996).

Haggerty and the No. 16 Tigers (26-5, 16-2 AAC) head to Fort Worth, Texas this week in pursuit of the school’s second AAC Tournament championship in three years. Memphis—the No. 1 seed in the field—begins its postseason against either No. 8 Wichita State or No. 9 South Florida inside Dickies Arena on Friday (noon, ESPN2).

Here is the full Sporting News All-America Team:

First Team
Johni Broome, Sr., F, Auburn
Walter Clayton Jr., Sr., G, Florida
Cooper Flagg, Fr., F, Duke
Mark Sears, Sr., G, Alabama
Braden Smith, Jr., G, Purdue
 
Second Team
Eric Dixon, Sr., F, Villanova
PJ Haggerty, R-So., G, Memphis
Kam Jones, Sr., G, Marquette
John Tonje, Sr., F, Wisconsin
JT Toppin, Jr., F, Texas Tech
 
Third Team
L.J. Cryer, Sr., G, Houston
Ryan Kalkbrenner, Sr., C, Creighton
Chaz Lanier, Sr., G, Tennessee
RJ Luis, Jr., F, St. John’s
Zakai Zeigler, Sr., G, Tennessee