Kentucky’s Ulis, Murray named to Wooden Award midseason list
University of Kentucky guards Tyler Ulis and Jamal Murray were named Wednesday to the Midseason Top 25 for the John R. Wooden Award, which is presented annually to college basketball’s player of the year.
The list is chosen through a poll of national college basketball experts.
Louisville senior Damion Lee also made the Midseason Top 25, as did Gonzaga senior Kyle Wiltjer, a transfer from Kentucky.
The candidates will be further pared to 20 top players in early February. Fifteen 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 prior to the NCAA Tournament. The 10-man Wooden Award All-American Team will be announced the week of the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Tournament.
Kentucky was one of only four schools to have two players chosen, joining Gonzaga (Domantas Sabonis and Wiltjer), Kansas (Perry Ellis and Wayne Selden Jr.) and North Carolina (Brice Johnson and Marcus Paige).
Murray and LSU’s Ben Simmons were the only freshmen named to the Midseason Top 25.
Louisville’s Lee was among five players not on the Preseason Top 50 who were named to the Midseason Top 25 along with Ryan Anderson of Arizona, Kay Felder of Oakland, Jarrod Uthoff of Iowa and Selden Jr.
Murray leads Kentucky in scoring at 17.6 points per game, and also averages 4.3 rebounds and 2.6 assists. Ulis, a sophomore, is second on the team in scoring at 14.2 ppg, with 3.3 rebounds and a team-best 6.0 assists per game.
The 40th annual John R. Wooden Award will be presented the weekend of April 7-9. The men’s and women’s Wooden All-American Teams will be honored during the ceremony, as well as the recipient of the 2016 Legends of Coaching Award, which will be presented to Texas Tech and former UK coach Tubby Smith.
Wooden Award Midseason Top 25
Name | School | Conference | Height | Class | Position |
Grayson Allen | Duke | ACC | 6-5 | Soph. | G |
Ryan Anderson | Arizona | Pac-12 | 6-9 | Sr. | F |
Malcolm Brogdon | Virginia | ACC | 6-5 | Sr. | G |
Kris Dunn | Providence | Big East | 6-4 | Jr. | G |
Perry Ellis | Kansas | Big 12 | 6-8 | Sr. | F |
Kay Felder | Oakland | Horizon | 5-9 | Jr. | G |
Daniel Hamilton | Connecticut | The American | 6-7 | Soph. | G/F |
Buddy Hield | Oklahoma | Big 12 | 6-4 | Sr. | G |
Brice Johnson | North Carolina | ACC | 6-10 | Sr. | F |
Damion Lee | Louisville | ACC | 6-6 | Sr. | G |
Caris LeVert | Michigan | Big Ten | 6-7 | Sr. | G |
Nic Moore | SMU | The American | 5-9 | Sr. | G |
Jamal Murray | Kentucky | SEC | 6-4 | Fr. | G |
Georges Niang | Iowa State | Big 12 | 6-8 | Sr. | F |
Marcus Paige | North Carolina | ACC | 6-2 | Sr. | G |
Gary Payton II | Oregon State | Pac-12 | 6-3 | Sr. | G |
Jakob Poeltl | Utah | Pac-12 | 7-0 | Soph. | F |
Domantas Sabonis | Gonzaga | WCC | 6-11 | Soph. | F |
Wayne Selden Jr. | Kansas | Big 12 | 6-5 | Jr. | G |
Ben Simmons | LSU | SEC | 6-10 | Fr. | F |
Melo Trimble | Maryland | Big Ten | 6-3 | Soph. | G |
Tyler Ulis | Kentucky | SEC | 5-9 | Soph. | G |
Jarrod Uthoff | Iowa | Big Ten | 6-9 | Sr. | F |
Denzel Valentine | Michigan State | Big Ten | 6-5 | Sr. | G |
Kyle Wiltjer | Gonzaga | WCC | 6-10 | Sr. | F |
This story was originally published January 13, 2016 at 8:08 PM with the headline "Kentucky’s Ulis, Murray named to Wooden Award midseason list."