Freshman Duo Named to USBWA District IV Team
ST. LOUIS – After earning All-Southeastern Conference honors earlier Tuesday, Kentucky freshmen Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Kevin Knox raked in another honor. The freshman duo is among 10 players selected for the United States Basketball Writers Association’s District IV Team.
Joining UK’s freshmen on the list are Bryce Brown (Auburn), Chris Chiozza (Florida), Jared Harper (Auburn), Nick King (Middle Tennessee State), Yante Maten (Georgia), Collin Sexton (Alabama), Jonathan Stark (Murray State) and Grant Williams (Tennessee).
The District IV Team includes players from the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Florida.
The Wildcats have had 19 players named to the USBWA All-District team in the nine seasons under the direction of head coach John Calipari. Fifteen of those players were freshmen, including Devin Booker (2015), DeMarcus Cousins (2010), Anthony Davis (2012), De’Aaron Fox (2017), Terrence Jones (2011), Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (2012), Brandon Knight (2011), Malik Monk (2017), Jamal Murray (2016), Nerlens Noel (2013), Julius Randle (2014), Karl-Anthony Towns (2015) and John Wall (2010).
Knox re-asserted himself into the national discussion as one of the nation’s best freshmen after a 34-point performance at then-No. 7/7 West Virginia.
The U.S. Basketball Writers of America named him both the Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week and the Wayman Tisdale National Freshman of the Week and the Atlanta Tipoff Club tabbed him its Citizen Naismith National Player of the Week honors on Jan. 31. Knox was the second freshman this season to earn both USBWA honors in the same week, joining Oklahoma’s Trae Young, who did it in December. It was also his first SEC honor.
Overall, Knox leads the Wildcats in scoring at 15.7 points per game. He’s reached double-figure scoring in 25 games this season and has a team-high nine games of 20 or more points, while also leading the team in rebounding on six occasions. He is second on the team with 165 rebounds on the year for an average of 5.3 per game. Knox has also put together a team-high-tying two double-doubles on the year and has drained a team-high 50 3-pointers.
He’s averaging 17.8 points per game over the last 12 games, scoring in double figures in all but one of those games. He also notched 20 or more points in three straight games during UK’s four-game winning streak to end the month of February. He is the first player to do that since Malik Monk did it in November and December of 2016.
The Tampa, Florida, native is shooting 44.6 percent from the field, 35.0 percent from 3-point range and 77.2 percent from the charity stripe. In games in which UK has won this season, he is averaging 16.7 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game.
Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 13.2 points per game. He leads the team in steals (49), assists (151), free-throw percentage (.808) and minutes per game (32.9).
The Hamilton, Ontario native over the last 16 games as a starter, is averaging 14.8 points, 5.4 assists and 4.2 rebounds in 36.2 minutes of action. Whether he’s serving as the man running the show or the energy guy off the bench that he was for most of the nonconference season, he’s changing the game in a multitude of ways. First, there’s the defense. Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 1.6 steals per game.
Under Calipari, John Wall’s 1.8 steals and 66 for the season are the most of any player. Gilgeous-Alexander currently is third among all SEC players with 49 steals (through games on March 3). He’s moved into seventh place on UK’s single-season freshman steals list and needs two to pass Nerlens Noel and move into sixth.
But what has really taken Gilgeous-Alexander’s game to another level in the last two months is his poise and consistency on the offensive end. He is averaging 15.1 points over his last 20 games, but more importantly, his play rises when the team needs him the most. He’s averaging 9.2 points in the second halves of games (compared to 5.8 in the first) over the last 20 games.
The 6-foot-6 guard is far from a score-first point guard. He’s proven to be an adept passer, leading the team in assists with a 4.9 average, ranked fourth in the SEC. He’s led the team in assists in a team-best 22 games. He is the 13th freshman in program history to amass more than 100 assists during his freshman season. He currently sits in sixth on the all-time freshman assists list with 151. He needs nine to pass Brandon Knight and Andrew Harrison who are tied for fourth. Wall owns the record with 241 assists in 2009-10.
Kentucky returns to action in the opening round of the SEC Tournament on Friday. UK will take on the winner of Thursday’s winner between Missouri or Wednesday’s Georgia-Vanderbilt game on Friday at approximately 3:25 p.m. ET. The game is set to air live on the ESPN.
For the latest on the Kentucky men’s basketball team, follow @KentuckyMBB on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, and on the web at UKathletics.com.
