Rhyne Howard Named to USBWA Ann Meyers Drysdale Award Watch List
LEXINGTON, Ky. – University of Kentucky women’s basketball sophomore guard Rhyne Howard has been named to the 2019-20 Ann Meyers Drysdale Award Watch List after starting the season strong by averaging a team-best 19.3 points and 6.3 rebounds per game for the undefeated Wildcats.
The Ann Meyers Drysdale Award is sponsored by the United States Basketball Writers Association and seeks to honor the national women’s player of the year. Howard is one of five underclassmen named to the list. The 2019-20 Ann Meyers Drysdale Award winner will be presented at the 2020 NCAA Women’s Final Four in New Orleans, along with the Tamika Catchings Award honoring the women’s freshman player of the year. The winner will also be honored at the annual USBWA Awards Luncheon at the Missouri Athletic Club in St. Louis on Mon., April 13, 2020.
Howard has been named to nearly every watch list for national honors, including the Citizen Naismith Trophy Top 50, John R. Wooden Award Top 30, Cheryl Miller Award Preseason Watch List, WBCA Preseason Wade Watch List and was Preseason All-SEC First Team by both league coaches and league media.
It has been a great start to the season for Howard and the Wildcats. The native of Cleveland, Tennessee leads Kentucky by averaging 19.3 points per game and 6.3 rebounds per game, while she has hit a team-best 21 3-pointers. The guard has 20 assists and team-high 19 steals while she is second on the squad with 10 blocks.
Howard has put together an impressive run the last six games especially with four 20+ point performances during that stretch. The run started with 24 points against Stetson before a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds at Virginia. Howard followed with 24 points against Morehead State and 27 points against Grambling State. After 14 points against Austin Peay, Howard tied her career high with 29 points against Charlotte adding seven rebounds and four steals.
Howard is coming off an incredible first season at Kentucky where she was named a unanimous national freshman of the year by espnW, USBWA and WBCA. The national honors were added to her already lengthy list of honors last season as the SEC Freshman of the Year by league coaches and SEC Newcomer of the Year by the Associated Press. She was also named WBCA All-America honorable mention, first-team All-SEC, SEC All-Freshman Team and second-team All-SEC by the AP.
Kentucky (8-0) is currently ranked No. 15 in the Associated Press Top 25 and will continue its seven-game home stand Sunday at 2 p.m. ET against Samford inside Memorial Coliseum. Tickets for the game are available at ukathletics.com/tickets while the game will also be streamed on SEC Network+.
For more information on the Kentucky women’s basketball team, visit UKathletics.com or follow @KentuckyWBB on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
