Men’s Basketball Honored with NABC Academic Excellence Award

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky men’s basketball team was honored as a recipient of the 2025-26 National Association of Basketball Coaches Team Academic Excellence Award, it was announced on Wednesday. Walker Horn and Zach Tow were also individually recognized on the NABC Honors Court.

The NABC Team Academic Excellence Award recognizes programs that completed the 2025-26 academic year with a team grade-point-average of 3.0 or higher. The NABC Honors Court, meanwhile, includes junior, senior and graduate student men’s basketball players who finished the 2025-26 year with a cumulative GPA of 3.2 or higher.

The NABC’s academic awards are presented annually to teams and athletes from all levels of college basketball. Over 2,300 players earned sports on the NABC Honors Court and over 400 programs received NABC Team Academic Excellence Awards for 2025-26.

“College basketball student-athletes do incredible things on the court, but their achievements in the classroom are equally worthy of celebration,” said NABC Executive Director Craig Robinson. “Education is one of the NABC’s core values, and the hundreds of programs and thousands of athletes represented on these awards reinforce the commitment to academic success that exists across all levels of our sport.”

Horn and Tow each earned their place on the Honors Court for the second consecutive season. Horn played in seven games this past season and made his first career basket when he drained a 3-pointer in the closing minutes of the win over Tennessee Tech. Tow, too, saw the court in seven contests. He converted a free throw vs. Tennessee Tech and buried a 3-pointer against North Carolina Central. Both Horn and Tow graduated from the University of Kentucky this past May.

For the latest on the Kentucky men’s basketball team, follow @KentuckyMBB on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, and on the web at UKathletics.com.