University of Kentucky guard Makayla Epps continues to get national praise for her strong senior season as the Los Angeles Athletic Club has tabbed her to their late season top 20 list of candidates for the 2017 John R. Wooden Award® presented by Wendy’s®.
The 41st annual presentation of the John R. Wooden Award® to the men’s and women’s most outstanding basketball player will be the anchor presentation of the ESPN College Basketball Awards Show presented by Wendy’s® on ESPN2 on Friday, April 7, 2017. The men’s and women’s John R. Wooden Award All-American Teams will be honored during the ceremony.
Epps is one of four players from the Southeastern Conference on the top 20 list, joining Alaina Coates (South Carolina), A’ja Wilson (South Carolina) and Victoria Vivians (Mississippi State). The full top-20 list is available here.
This is the third national watch list Epps has been a part of in the last two days. Wednesday, the senior was named one of 19 players to the 2017 Dawn Staley Award Midseason Watch List, which annually honors women’s basketball’s top college guard, while she was also tabbed to the 2017 Naismith Trophy Top 30, which honors women’s basketball’s college player of the year.
Epps is having a great season for Kentucky, leading the Wildcats in scoring by averaging 17.2 points per game. The senior also leads Kentucky with 89 assists and is third on the team with 22 steals. Epps has started all 24 games and ranks high in several national categories, including 38th nationally and third in the league in field-goals made and 49th nationally and second in the league in points scored with 413.
For her career, Epps is moving into elite company sitting fifth all-time with 1,620 career points and eighth all-time with 379 career assists. Epps is the only player in program history to rank top eight on both lists. Currently, Epps is on a career-high tying streak of scoring 20 or more points in four straight games. The native of Lebanon, Ky., has scored in double figures 21 times this season and 82 times in her career.
UK returns to the court tonight to square off against Georgia in Athens. The Wildcats are looking to continue their momentum from defeating Vanderbilt last Sunday in Memorial Coliseum. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. inside Stegeman Coliseum, and will be broadcast on SECNetwork+ through WatchESPN on computers, smartphones and tablets. Fans can also listen to Neil Price on UK Sports Network, heard in Lexington on 630AM WLAP. Free audio will also be available online at UKathletics.com.
For more information on the Kentucky women’s basketball team, visit UKathletics.com or follow @KentuckyWBB on Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat, or Kentucky Women’s Basketball on Facebook.
‑ GO CATS –
For more information contact:
Evan Crane