Postseason awards rolling in for Kentucky
University of Kentucky point guard Tyler Ulis was a first-team All-America selection by USA Today Sports, and teammate Jamal Murray was selected to the second team.
USA Today announced its three five-man teams Monday.
Joining Ulis on the first team were Buddy Hield of Oklahoma, Brice Johnson of North Carolina, Jakob Poeltl of Utah and Denzel Valentine of Michigan State.
Named to the second team along with Murray were Grayson Allen of Duke, Malcolm Brogdon of Virginia, Perry Ellis of Kansas and Yogi Ferrell of Indiana.
The third team included Kris Dunn of Providence, Trevon Bluiett of Xavier, Georges Niang of Iowa State, Ben Simmons of LSU and Jarrod Uthoff of Iowa.
Murray and Simmons were the only freshmen to make the teams.
▪ On Sunday, Ulis was named Southeastern Conference Player of the Year by CBS Sports. Murray and Ulis were named to CBS’ All-SEC First Team, and John Calipari was named SEC Coach of the Year.
Ulis is averaging 16.6 points, a Southeastern Conference-best 7.4 assists (sixth nationally) and a league-best 3.8 assist-to-turnover ratio (fifth nationally).
Murray leads the Wildcats in scoring at 20.0 points per game, which, if the season ended today, would be the highest scoring average at Kentucky in the Calipari era.
Ulis named Cousy finalist
Kentucky’s Tyler Ulis was named one of five finalists Monday for the 2016 Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Award by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Ulis’ competition includes Indiana’s Yogi Ferrell, Iowa State’s Monte Morris, Oakland’s Kahlil Felder and Providence’s Kris Dunn.
The annual honor, which is now in its 13th season, will be presented to the winner at the ESPN College Basketball Awards Show in Los Angeles on April 8.
Murray, Labissiere earn SEC honors
Freshmen Jamal Murray and Skal Labissiere were named the SEC’s player and freshman of the week, respectively, after leading the Wildcats to their 47th league regular-season championship last week.
With their honors, Kentucky concludes the season leading the league with 11 total weekly honors.
Kentucky moves up in polls
Kentucky made this week’s biggest jump in The Associated Press Top 25, moving up six spots to No. 16. The Wildcats moved from No. 19 to No. 16 in the USA Today Coaches Poll.
This story was originally published March 7, 2016 at 5:51 PM with the headline "Postseason awards rolling in for Kentucky."