Derek Willis earns West squad’s MVP honor in college all-star game

Kentucky’s Derek Willis scored 13 points, grabbed a team-high eight rebounds and was named the West squad’s MVP in a 121-90 loss to the East in the Reese’s College All-Star Game in Phoenix.

The game was part of Final Four weekend and UK Coach John Calipari was on hand to watch the senior from Bullitt East.

George Washington’s Tyler Cavanaugh was named the Reese’s Perfect Player from the East All-Stars. He had 19 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. Lehigh’s Tim Kempton added a game-high 21 points.

Willis, who earned the Perfect Player honor for the West, was 6-for-11 from the field in 21 minutes. He was 1-for-4 from three-point range and also had one blocked shot and one steal.

Willis also has an invitation to play in the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament on April 12-15 in Portsmouth, Va. His teammates in that event will include UCLA guard Bryce Alford, Duke guard Matt Jones and Louisville big man Mangok Mathiang.

“He’ll do well here,” chairman Mahlon Parker told the Herald-Leader earlier this week of Willis.

Seventeen players in last year’s PIT got invitations to NBA preseason camps, Parker said. Five made NBA teams.

This season Willis averaged 7.0 points and 5.4 rebounds for Kentucky, the latter tying Isaiah Briscoe for second on the team. Willis also made 37.7 percent of his three-point shots.

This story was originally published March 31, 2017 at 9:00 PM with the headline "Derek Willis earns West squad’s MVP honor in college all-star game."