By Keith Taylor
Kentucky Today
Cason Wallace claimed Kentucky’s first Southeastern Conference honor of the year on Tuesday.
Wallace was named the league’s Freshman of the Week after scoring a career-high 27 points in an 88-68 win over Florida A&M last Wednesday. Wallace also added nine assists, which tied a career high and collected four steals and grabbed a pair of rebounds in the win over the Rattlers.
“He’s a two-way player,” Florida A&M coach Robert McCollum said after his team’s loss to the Wildcats last week. “To find a young player – a freshman – that plays that way on both ends is really impressive. Normally, for young players, it takes a while to get them to buy in on defense, but he plays on both ends.
“He can hurt you in so many ways offensively. He can get to the basket, he can get his shot off the dribble, and he can catch and shoot. Then you look at his size. Small guards are going to have a lot of difficulty trying to guard him.”
Wallace’s teammates weren’t surprised by his career performance.
“That’s what he does.” Kentucky guard CJ Fredrick said. “He hits shots, he defends and makes the right plays. I was not surprised at all (by his performance). Every time his shoots the ball, he expects to make it.”
Keith Taylor is the sports editor for Kentucky Today. Reach him at keith.taylor@kentuckytoday.com and via Twitter at keithtaylor21