Four Wildcats Named to NABC Honors Court
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Four Kentucky men’s basketball players were tabbed to the National Association of Basketball Coaches’ Honors Court for the 2021-22 season as announced by the organization on Tuesday. Brennan Canada, CJ Fredrick, Davion Mintz and Zan Payne were UK’s four recipients.
Players must be a junior, senior or graduate student in academic standing and finished the 2021-22 season with a cumulative grade-point average of 3.2 or higher.
The NABC’s academic awards includes honorees from all levels of college basketball and more than 2,000 players earned spots on the NABC Honors Court.
Each of UK’s four recipients were also honored by the Southeastern Conference this season. Canada, Mintz and Payne were all tabbed to the SEC’s Winter Academic Honor Roll, while Fredrick was among the SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll members.
Canada is a three-time honoree on the SEC Academic Honor Roll and is a communication major. He is set to graduate with his undergraduate degree in December. The Mount Sterling, Kentucky, native was also inducted into the Frank G. Ham Society of Character, the highest honor bestowed on UK student-athletes, this spring. He has appeared in 15 games throughout his career after enjoying a standout high school career at George Rogers Clark.
Fredrick is a community and leadership development major. He spent the first three seasons of his career at Iowa. The 6-foot-3 guard missed his inaugural season with the Wildcats in 2021-22 after undergoing surgery in mid-November to repair a left hamstring injury. The Cincinnati native is expected to return to the court in 2022-23 and will be among the nation’s leaders in career 3-point field-goal percentage. Fredrick owns a 46.6% clip from behind the arc.
Mintz completed his master’s degree in kinesiology and health promotion with an emphasis in sport leadership from Kentucky in May and is a two-time SEC Academic Honor Roll selection. The Charlotte, N.C., native was also a College of Sports Information Directors of America All-District Team selection during his final season with the Wildcats. He appeared in 56 games for UK over two seasons and averaged 7.8 points per game, while shooting 35.6% from 3-point range.
Payne graduated with a degree in communication in August of 2021 and then completed an undergraduate certificate in business and economics in May. He is a four-time honoree on the SEC Academic Honor Roll. He appeared in 11 games for the Wildcats and scored 10 points. Prior to joining UK, Payne was a 1,000-point scorer and ranked among Lexington Catholic’s top 15 scorers in program history.
For the latest on the Kentucky men’s basketball team, follow @KentuckyMBB on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, and on the web at UKathletics.com.
