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Pitt star Justin Champagnie earned honorable mention for All-America honors from the Associated Press on Tuesday afternoon. He was previously recognized as a second-team All-American by ESPN, making this his second All-America honor for the 2020-21 season.
The 6’6”, 200-pound forward was one of 42 athletes in the nation who earned honorable mention for All-America honors from the AP. Champagnie was also one of seven ACC players to make the list, along with Scottie Barnes and Raiquan Gray of Florida State, Sam Hauser and Jay Huff of Virginia, Carlik Jones of Louisville, and Moses Wright of Georgia Tech.
No ACC player earned a spot on the AP’s first, second or third All-America teams this season, and all three teams included only players on teams that made the NCAA tournament. With that said, Champagnie outrebounded every member of the AP’s first, second and third teams. He also outscored four of five members of both the second team and the third team.
During his sophomore season, Champagnie averaged 18.0 points and 11.1 rebounds per game. The Brooklyn native was also solid defensively, contributing 1.2 steals and 1.3 blocks per contest. And on top of averaging a double-double, Champagnie also led the ACC in rebounds, while ranking second in scoring to Duke power forward Matthew Hurt, who averaged 18.2 points per game this season.
For his efforts, Champagnie earned first-team All-ACC honors and came in second in ACC Player of the Year voting in addition to earning All-America honors. As a result of his strong showing this season, the Pitt star is expected to give consideration to entering the NBA draft this offseason. But at this point, a return to Pitt has not been ruled out by Champagnie.