List of Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball honorees
A number of Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball players have been honored with various Southeastern Conference and national awards.
Banner honorees
Forty-three former Kentucky men's basketball players, coaches, and contributors are honored in Rupp Arena with banners representing their numbers hung from the rafters. With the streamlining of jersey numbers by the NCAA, the jerseys are retired but the numbers remain active. To have a banner hung, the athlete must be elected to the UK Athletics Hall of Fame.[1]
No.
Name
Years
Note
22
Cliff Barker
1947–49
1948 NCAA Champion, 1949 NCAA Champion, One of the Fabulous Five
12
Ralph Beard
1946–49
1948 NCAA Champion, 1949 NCAA Champion, One of the Fabulous Five
22
Jerry Bird
1954–56
50
Bob Burrow
1955–56
1956 Second Team All-America
56
Burgess Carey
1925–26
24
Johnny Cox
1957–59
1958 NCAA Champion, 1959 First Team All-America
10
Louie Dampier
1965–67
1967 Second Team All-America
7
John DeMoisey
1932–34
00
Tony Delk
1993–96
1996 NCAA Champion, 1996 First Team All-America, 1996 SEC Player of the Year, 1996 NCAA Tournament M.O.P.
The following is a list of Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball players who have been named either SEC Freshman of the Year (awarded by the league's head coaches, and open only to freshmen) or SEC Newcomer of the Year (awarded by the AP and open to any player in his first year at an SEC school, including transfers).
All listed players won both awards except for the following:
Patrick Patterson, a freshman who won the 2008 coaches' award while Nick Calathes of Florida, also a freshman, won the AP award.
One of the NCAA's main student-athlete awards is the Elite 90 Award (previously the Elite 88 and Elite 89), presented at the site of each of the NCAA's 90 annual championship finals. In Division I men's basketball, eligible individuals are those on the playing squads of all Final Four participants who have played at least two seasons at their current school. The recipient is the eligible player with the highest grade point average, with completed credit hours as a tiebreaker if needed.
Year
Player
Class
Position
2014
Sam Malone
Junior
Guard
NBA Draft Picks
McDonald's All-Americans
The following is a list of Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball players who have been named McDonald's All-Americans during their prep careers:
^Wiltjer transferred to Gonzaga after the 2012–13 season.
^Lee transferred to California after the 2015–16 season.
^Travis began his college career at Stanford, playing there through the 2017–18 season. He graduated from Stanford with a year of remaining athletic eligibility and transferred to UK for the 2018–19 season.
^Killeya-Jones transferred to NC State after the 2017–18 season.
^Geeen transferred to Washington after the 2017–18 season.
^Tshiebwe began his college career at West Virginia, transferring to Kentucky after the 2020 fall semester. He began play at UK in 2021–22.
^Bradshaw transferred to Ohio State after the 2023–24 season.
^"UK Creates Athletics Hall of Fame". UK Wildcats News. April 27, 2005. Archived from the original on April 27, 2017. Retrieved April 6, 2017.
^Adolph Rupp trophy winner: John Wall, Kentucky Archived January 7, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
^"Davis wins Wooden National Player of the Year Award". WKYT-TV. March 31, 2012. Retrieved March 31, 2012.
^"Past Winners: College Awards". Atlanta Tipoff Club. Retrieved March 19, 2022.
^"Oscar Robertson Trophy". United States Basketball Writers Association. Retrieved March 19, 2022.
^"Awards: AP Player of the Year Winner". Sports-Reference CBB. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved March 19, 2022.
^"Kentucky's Oscar Tshiebwe Wins 2022 John R. Wooden Award presented by Wendy's Men's Player of the Year" (Press release). Los Angeles Athletic Club. April 5, 2022. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
^"Cooley, SEC's Tshiebwe, Kessler Named 2022 Men's Naismith Awards Winners" (Press release). Atlanta Tipoff Club. April 3, 2022. Retrieved April 3, 2022.
^Beard, Aaron (April 1, 2022). "Kentucky's Tshiebwe named AP men's college player of year". Associated Press. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
^"Arizona's Lloyd Headlines NABC Division I Major Award Winners" (Press release). National Basketball Coaches Association. March 29, 2022. Retrieved March 29, 2022.
^DeCourcy, Mike (March 9, 2022). "Kentucky's Oscar Tshiebwe is Sporting News' College Basketball Player of the Year". Sporting News. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
^"Kentucky's Tshiebwe Wins 2021–22 Oscar Robertson Trophy" (Press release). United States Basketball Writers Association. April 1, 2022. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
^ abc[1][permanent dead link]NABC.org Retrieved on March 30, 2009
^ ab"Sporting News' College Basketball All-America Team - Mike DeCourcy - College Basketball - Sporting News". Archived from the original on April 12, 2010. Retrieved March 14, 2010. Sporting News Retrieved on March 9, 2010
External links
"Retired Jerseys". University of Kentucky Athletics. University of Kentucky Wildcats Athletic Department. 2015. Retrieved May 6, 2015.