After a one-week hiatus, Kentucky recaptured the Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Week award again as Karl-Anthony Towns garnered SEC honors for the third time this season while teammate Willie Cauley-Stein is a finalist for another national award.
Cauley-Stein has been named one of the 15 players on the watch list for the 2015 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced.
Towns played an integral part in helping Kentucky tie the best record in school history (25-0) by averaging 10.5 points, a team-high-tying 8.5 rebounds and a team-high 2.5 blocks last week in UK’s victories over LSU and South Carolina.
In the come-from-behind win at a sold-out LSU, Towns recorded his fourth double-double (12 points and a team-high 13 rebounds) in addition to a team-high four blocks, two steals and two assists.
Against South Carolina, Towns scored the first six points of the game to help Kentucky take an early lead that it would never look back from.
The 6-foot-11 forward leads UK in blocked shots (58) and is tied for the team high in rebounds per game (6.4). Over the last five games, Towns is leading Kentucky in scoring (13.4 points per game), rebounding (7.8) and blocked shots (nine).
Towns and the Wildcats have now hauled in 10 SEC Freshman of the Week accolades. Devin Booker has won the award a league-high five times – including four straight from Jan. 12 to Feb. 2 – Towns has earned the honor three times, and teammates Trey Lyles and Tyler Ulis have each notched the award once this season.
UK returns to action Tuesday at Tennessee. That game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. tip on ESPN.
Named for Hall of Famer and three-time NCAA Champion Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the annual honor in its first year recognizes the top centers in men’s college basketball.
The watch list of 15 candidates, including Cauley-Stein, was determined by a national committee comprised of top college basketball personnel.
Cauley-Stein, a junior, is averaging 9.4 points – most of any UK frontcourt player – and 6.4 rebounds. The Olathe, Kan., native has recorded 12 double-figure scoring games this season, including a 21-point, 12-rebound performance against then-No. 6 Texas in December. He leads the team with 36 steals and has swatted 39 shots on the year.
The 7-footer is the first player in program history to amass 200 or more career blocks and 100 or more career steals having achieved the feat earlier this season. He’s also one of just eight players in program history with 500 or more rebounds, 100 or more blocks, and 75 or more steals.
Cauley-Stein is averaging 14.7 points, 10.0 rebounds, 2.4 blocks and 2.3 steals per 40 minutes this season. He averages 25.5 minutes per game.
By early March, the current list of 15 finalists for the Abdul-Jabbar Award will be narrowed down to five players. The final five players in contention for the award will be presented to Abdul-Jabbar and the Hall of Fame’s selection committee.
The winner will be presented at ESPN’s new College Basketball Awards presented by Wendy’s from Club Nokia in Los Angeles, CA on Friday, April 10, 2015. The Awards will be televised live on ESPN2 at 8 p.m.
Cauley-Stein, along with teammate Karl-Anthony Towns, was named to the 30-player Naismith Trophy Midseason 30 list last week.
From UK Athletics