The Big East Conference handed out several awards on Wednesday in New York. Butler's Kellen Dunham (left) was the scholar-athlete of the year. Seton Hall's Kevin Willard and Jay Wright shared coach of the year honors. Marquette's Henry Ellenson (second from right) was the freshman of the year, and Kris Dunn was the player of the year. Credit: Matt Velazquez

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New York — Marquette forward Henry Ellenson has put together one of the best freshman seasons in program history. On Wednesday afternoon at Madison Square Garden, he became just the second Golden Eagles player to earn Big East freshman of the year, an award that came by unanimous vote from the league's head coaches.

"It's an honor to be able to be called Big East freshman of the year," said Ellenson, who was also the first freshman since 2002-'03 to earn all-Big East first team honors. "I'm humbled by it."

Ellenson, who averaged 16.8 points and led the conference with 9.8 rebounds per game while recording 17 double-doubles, joined 2005-'06 freshman of the year Dominic James as Marquette's only winners of the award since joining the Big East.

Back in October, Villanova's Jalen Brunson was selected by the Big East's coaches as the preseason freshman of the year. Missing out on that recognition was never on Ellenson's mind, but it did give him a bit of a chip on his shoulder as he collected eight league freshman of the week awards during the season.

"I guess it gave me a little motivation," he said. "I never play for individual awards. It's just a nice thing to get when you get one, for sure."

Entering the Big East tournament, Ellenson ranks first or tied for first among Marquette freshmen in eight statistical categories. Those categories are points (520), rebounds (304), scoring average, rebounding average, field goals made (tied, 182), field goals attempted (410), free throws made (129) and free throws attempted (175).

"I'm just going out there and just competing my hardest every day and so all those records are just a tribute to all the hard work it's taken to get here," said Ellenson, who thanked his coaches and teammates during his acceptance speech. "All the hard work I've put in the gym, all the long nights and stuff like that it all pays off."

The Big East handed out three other awards on Wednesday at Madison Square Garden. Providence junior guard Kris Dunn repeated as player of the year. Villanova's Jay Wright and Seton Hall's Kevin Willard shared coach of the year honors, and Butler's Kellen Dunham was recognized as the conference's scholar-athlete of the year.