Kentucky men’s basketball sophomore point guard Tyler Ulis is one of 20 players on the John R. Wooden Award Late Season Top 20 list, announced Wednesday by the Los Angeles Athletic Club. The Wooden Award is presented annually to the top player in college basketball.
UK Hoops star Makayla Epps is also a finalist for women’s college basketball player of the year award.
The players on the Wooden list are considered strong candidates for Wooden Award, though a player does not have to be on the preseason, midseason or late season list to win the award.
Fifteen top players who have proven to their universities that they are also making progress toward graduation and maintaining at least a cumulative 2.0 GPA will be submitted to the voters on the ballot prior to the NCAA Tournament.
Voters are permitted to take into consideration the opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament when casting the ballot. The 10-man Wooden Award All-American Team will be announced the week of the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Tournament, and the 40th annual presentation of the award will be the anchor presentation of the ESPN College Basketball Awards Show, which will take place the weekend of April 7-9.
Ulis has had a spectacular sophomore season in leading Kentucky to an 18-6 record and 8-3 mark in the Southeastern Conference. He’s one of two SEC players on the list.
The 5-foot-9 guard is averaging 16.2 points, a team-best 6.4 assists per game – which ranks second in the SEC – and boasts an SEC-best 3.4 assist-to-turnover ratio. He’s scored 20 or more points in nine of his last 13 games, averaging 19.5 points and 7.3 assists while shooting 50.6 percent over that stretch.
The Chicago native is the only player in the SEC averaging at least 16.0 points and 6.4 assists or better. He is one of just five players nationally to achieve that feat (Kahil Felder, Oakland; Kris Dunn, Providence; Juan’Ya Green, Hofstra; Denzel Valentine, Michigan State;) and the lone underclassman.
With 20 points and five assists at Tennessee, Ulis has posted 10 games this season with at least 20 points and at least five assists in the same game, the most by a Wildcat in any season since 1972-73.
Ulis’ value is probably best represented by his performances in Kentucky’s biggest games. He’s averaging a team-best 21.7 points and a team-high 7.3 assists in UK’s three games vs. ranked opponents. He shot 54.5 percent with a 5.5 assist-to-turnover ratio in those games.
He is also only the second player at UK since 1972-73 (the first year UK has full game-by-game assist numbers for) with have at least four assists in 17 consecutive games in a single season. Roger Harden also did it 17 times.
Kentucky returns to the court Saturday, traveling to South Carolina for a noon contest to be telecast on ESPN.
Epps on midseason 30 for College Player of Year Award
After being named to the 2015-16 Naismith Trophy Women’s College Player of the Year Early Season Watch List in December, Kentucky women’s basketball junior guard Makayla Epps has been selected to the Midseason 30 on Wednesday.
The original 50-player watch list was compiled by the Atlanta Tipoff Club’s Board of Selectors, which based its criteria on player performances from the previous year and expectations for the 2015-2016 college basketball season. From the 30 athletes on the midseason watch list, the field will be cut to 10 semifinalists on March 3.
The four finalists will be announced on March 18, and the Naismith Trophy Women’s College Player of the Year will be announced during the NCAA Women’s Final Four on April 4. The winner is determined by a board of selectors in conjunction with fan voting. The Naismith Women’s College Player of the Year presented by AT&T will be awarded on April 4, 2016, in Indianapolis.
Epps is the first Wildcat to make the midseason watch list since two-time Southeastern Conference Player of the Year A’dia Mathies earned the distinction in 2013. Five other athletes from the SEC appear on the watch list alongside Epps, including Alaina Coates (South Carolina), Tiffany Mitchell (South Carolina), Victoria Vivians (Mississippi State), Courtney Walker (Texas A&M) and A’ja Wilson (South Carolina).
Epps recently became the 31st member of Kentucky’s 1,000-point club and is the third-fastest Wildcat to accomplish the feat within the Matthew Mitchell era, playing 87 games in her UK career to amass 1,000 points. She currently leads the No. 18/18 Wildcats in scoring, averaging 17.0 points per game while handing out 4.6 assists per contest.
Epps recently strung together a streak of 20+ point performances, becoming the first UK player since Sara Potts in 2004 to score at least 20 points in four consecutive games. The Lebanon, Ky. native has accomplished numerous impressive feats in her junior season, which include becoming the second player in Kentucky history to record a triple-double with her outburst against Morehead State, tying the third-most efficient performance in school history after 10-of-11 shooting against Louisville, and tying the program record for single game free throw percentage with a flawless 12-of-12 effort against Ole Miss.
UK has a bye week for this week’s Thursday matchup, and will return to the court against Vanderbilt on Sunday, Feb. 14. The Wildcats will look to avenge a 71-69 loss to the Commodores earlier this year, with tipoff slated for 4 p.m.
The game will be broadcast on SEC Network and can also be heard on the UK Sports Radio Network with Neil Price on 630AM WLAP.
From UK Athletics