KWU Sports Information
Kansas Wesleyan forward Alex Littlejohn (SO/Newton, Kan.) was pleased when he learned he had been named an NAIA Third Team All-American earlier this week. He wasn't sure how to respond, though.
"I didn't know if I was going to get it or not," he said. "When I saw it, I was pretty happy."
His coach Anthony Monson quickly intervened.
"When you tell Alex he earned All-American it's almost like it's a shameful thing for him," he said. "I had to tell him it's okay to be proud of that because he's so humble."
The recognition was a no-brainer after Littlejohn's monstrous 2022-23 season in which he averaged 14.2 points on 52 percent shooting and grabbed 11.1 rebounds per game, third best in the NAIA. His 333 rebounds ranked him third nationally and were the second-highest single-season total in KWU history.
Most impressive, though, were the 21 double-doubles (double figure points and rebounds) he recorded.
"My teammates got me the ball and just trusted me the whole year and allowed me to do my thing so it worked out, I guess," Littlejohn said. "I got more confident in myself and trusted myself to make plays. The coaches were on me about shooting and making good decisions, just being confident. Confidence was the big thing for me."
The Coyotes compiled a 26-5 overall record, the second-highest victory total in school history. They were 19-3 in the Kansas Conference, the 19 wins a school best.
"It just shows the amount of work he's put in in his short amount of time here," Monson said. "But it's not just about individual stats. He's made the program better as evidenced by the record of the team the past couple of years. He's obviously not the only person that helped that happen but he's played a big part."
The 6-foot-6 Littlejohn praised and credited his teammates for his success.
"It just shows how good all the players on our team are," he said. "Having those people around me makes it easier for me to go one-on-one since (opponents) have to worry about everybody else."
Littlejohn spent last summer working on every aspect of his game.
"I just tried to be more than a one-trick pony so I was working on everything," he said. "My shot was a little iffy to start the season but I got it figured out towards the end. I was taking the open shots when they were there and knocking them down."
"He wants to do whatever he can to make himself better because he knows that makes the team better," Monson said. "He puts in extra time outside of practice and worked with some people outside of practices to help get his game even better."
More of the same is on tap this spring and summer.
"We started lifting this week so going hard in the weight room and getting into the gym and working on our games," Littlejohn said. "I'm still pretty skinny so trying to put on some muscle. There are a couple of big dudes in our league and I'm just trying to make sure I can keep up with them."
KWU qualified for the NAIA National Championship for the second consecutive season. The Coyotes defeated Indiana-Kokomo in the first round in Wichita before losing to Morningside in the second round.
Littlejohn said the loss will motivate him and his teammates during the offseason.
"The way things ended I didn't play that good," he said. "I want more and am excited to come back because I'm not going to play like that again. To me we accomplished some things but we didn't accomplish what we wanted to. We can't live on what we did and the success that we had last year. We've just got to take it one game at a time and it starts now."
It's a response Monson has come to expect from Littlejohn.
"He's ultra-competitive but he's able to turn that switch off and just be a normal guy which is kind of nice," he said. "When he gets on the court, he turns into one of the best players that I've ever had a chance to be around and coach at this level."