Quickley Wins Second Straight SEC Player of the Week Award
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Kentucky sophomore guard Immanuel Quickley was named the Southeastern Conference Co-Player of the Week on Monday after helping the Wildcats win their 49th SEC regular-season crown last week.
Arkansas’ Mason Jones shared the honor this week with Quickley.
In winning back-to-back weeks, Quickley becomes the first Wildcat in the history of the SEC weekly awards (dating back to the 1984-85 season) to win SEC Player of the Week honors in consecutive weeks. He’s the first player from any SEC team to do so since Tennessee’s Admiral Schofield won two straight in December 2018.
Quickley was sensational for the Wildcats, averaging 24.0 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.0 steals per game in the two victories. He made nine 3-pointers during the week and shot 48.3% from the floor, including 52.9% from 3.
Quickley, a leading candidate for SEC Player of the Year, has won three SEC Player of the Week honors this season, behind only Jones, who has four.
Kentucky has dominated the weekly SEC awards under John Calipari. UK has won more weekly SEC honors (108) than any other school during the Calipari era, including 83 SEC Freshman of the Week honors and 25 SEC Player of the Week awards.
UK has five total SEC Player of the Week honors this season and eight total. In addition to Quickley’s three SEC Player of the Week awards, Nick Richards has won it twice and Tyrese Maxey is a three-time SEC Freshman of the Week winner.
Quickley provided two career performances for the Wildcats in wins over Texas A&M and against No. 15/15 Auburn as UK secured the regular-season championship. The Havre de Grace, Maryland, native began the week by draining a career-high eight 3-pointers and scoring a career-high 30 points against the Aggies.
He became the first UK player to log a 30-point game since Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 30 on Jan. 30, 2018 against Vanderbilt. The eight 3s tie the single-game record in the Calipari era and are the fourth most in a game in program history. Quickley became the first player to have consecutive 25 points or more in back-to-back games since Malik Monk during the 2016-17 season. It was his eighth 20-point game of the season and the third straight, with Quickley becoming the first UK player to do that since PJ Washington had four straight 20-point games last February.
In nine true road games this season, Quickley is averaging 19.9 points per game.
Quickley then charted 18 points and a career-high 12 rebounds for his second-career double-double in the win over the Tigers to help UK clinch the crown in front of its home crowd.
Entering the game leading the SEC in free-throw percentage, he made all 11 attempts and has now made 17 straight, his fourth streak of 17 or more consecutive makes at the line this season. He’s making 92.2% from the line on the season which ranks third in the nation through games played on Feb. 29.
Quickley has charted double-figure scoring in a career-best 18 straight games. It’s the longest such streak for a UK player since Monk did it 30 straight times in 2016-17. During Kentucky’s current eight-game winning streak, Quickley has been on fire the second half. He is scoring 14.9 points per game in the second half alone and connecting on 57.7% of his 3-point attempts. He’s played all but three minutes during the second half in the current winning streak.
The Wildcats return to action for their final home game of the year as Tennessee visits Rupp Arena on Tuesday. Tip time is set for 9 p.m. ET and the game will air live on ESPN.
For the latest on the Kentucky men’s basketball team, follow @KentuckyMBB on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, and on the web at UKathletics.com.
