Men’s Basketball Wins Team of the Year at CATSPYs

It was another special night Monday at Memorial Coliseum at the 15th annual CATSPY Awards, and the Kentucky men’s basketball team was one of the headlining winners of the show.

The men’s basketball team won the Male Team of the Year award, guard Malik Monk was tabbed Male Rookie of the Year, Dominique Hawkins won the Supporting Role award, Coach Cal was one of four coaches to be named Coach of the Year and Ryan Clark, the team’s student athletic trainer, won the Bill Keightley “Assist” Award, named after the legendary UK men’s basketball equipment manager.

Kentucky senior guard Dominique Hawkins won the Supporting Role award Monday at the 15th annual CATSPY Awards. (photo by Chet White, UK Athletics)

It’s the seventh time in the last eight years that the men’s basketball team has won Team of the Year. The men’s basketball team went 32-6 this season and won its 48th Southeastern Conference regular season championship and 30th SEC Tournament title. The Wildcats advanced to the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament and had four players earn All-SEC honors.

The men’s basketball team has had a player win Rookie of the Year in seven of the eight years Coach Cal has been head coach, including each of the past four years. Monk joins Jamal Murray (2016), Karl-Anthony Towns (2015), Julius Randle (2014), Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (2012), Brandon Knight (2011) and DeMarcus Cousins (2010) as recipients of the award.

Monk, who declared for the NBA Draft on April 4, was a consensus second team All-American after averaging 19.8 points per game and hitting an SEC-leading 104 3-pointers, the third most in Kentucky single-season history and the second most by a freshman in program history. Monk, winner of the Jerry West Award, which is given to the nation’s top shooting guard, broke the program’s single-game freshman scoring record when he put up 47 points against North Carolina on Dec. 17.

Calipari has won the Coach of the Year award in seven of the past eight years, including each of the past four. Coach Cal led Kentucky to the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament this season, marking the sixth time in his eight years leading the Cats that they have advanced to at least the regional finals. Coach Cal has led Kentucky to 30-plus wins in four of his eight seasons as head coach of the Cats and his 249-53 record as UK head coach is the best of any UK head coach through 302 games.

Hawkins won the Supporting Role award after closing out his memorable four-year Kentucky career with SEC All-Tournament Team honors. The Richmond, Kentucky, native scored a career-high 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting and logged a career-high four steals against Arkansas in the SEC Tournament Championship. More than statistics though, Hawkins provided unrelenting energy and enthusiasm throughout the year for one of the youngest teams in the country and was a constant defensive presence for the Wildcats. He came off the bench in 34 of 38 games this season, averaging a career-high 19.2 minutes per game.

One of the video highlights of this year’s CATSPY Awards was this funny video of “Bad Lip Reading.”

A spin-off of the popular ESPY Awards held each year by ESPN, the CATSPYs feature individual and team honors, chosen from UK’s 22 varsity sports. The event is dedicated to celebrating the more than 500 student-athletes that represent UK. Videos of the nominees in each category are shown. UK student-athletes and head coaches serve as presenters.

WKYT will air the CATSPY Awards at a later time to be announced. A replay is also available on UKathletics.com.

MALE TEAM OF THE YEAR

Men’s basketball

MALE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

Malik Monk (men’s basketball)

SUPPORTING ROLE

Dominique Hawkins (men’s basketball)

COACH(ES) OF THE YEAR

John Calipari (men’s basketball)

Mark Stoops (football)

Lars Jorgensen (swimming and diving)

Edrick Floreal (track and field)

BILL KEIGHTLEY “ASSIST” AWARD

Ryan Clark (men’s basketball)