UConn big man Tarris Reed Jr. was named to the midseason top 10 watch list for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award, which was announced by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame on Friday as part of its Naismith Starting Five awards.
Reed, the grizzly bear at the center of UConn’s operations, has been one of the most dominant big men in the country in his final year of college basketball.
Despite missing five games to injury, Reed is the Huskies’ second-leading scorer at 14.1 points per game on 64.8% shooting from the field. He leads the team in rebounding at 7.8 boards per game and his 1.9 blocked shots per game is good for fourth in the Big East.
Reed has had four games with 20 points or more and four double-doubles this season, including a 21-point, eight-rebound performance against BYU and a 21-point, nine-rebound effort at Seton Hall.
UConn is 18-0 on the year with its starting center healthy entering Friday’s matchup against St. John’s and big Zuby Ejiofor, who also saw his name on the Abdul-Jabbar list.
The Huskies played against three centers on the list during their loaded nonconference slate in Arizona’s Motiejus Krivas, Alex Condon from Florida and Flory Bidunga at Kansas, though Reed was only available for the Florida matchup.
Rated the 28th-best player and 11th-best defender in the country by EvanMiya.com, Reed was also named alongside point guard Silas Demary Jr. to the 25-man watch list for the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year.
UConn had two other players recognized this week as Solo Ball landed a spot on the Jerry West Award watch list and Alex Karaban on the list for the Karl Malone Award. There have only been three winners of the Starting Five Awards in program history with Tristen Newton, Shabazz Napier and Kemba Walker having claimed the Bob Cousy Point Guard Award.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award midseason watch list
Motiejus Krivas, Arizona; Alex Condon, Florida; Flory Bidunga, Kansas; Aday Mara, Michigan; Rienk Mast, Nebraska; Henri Veesaar, North Carolina; Oscar Cluff, Purdue; Zuby Ejiofor, St. John’s; Tarris Reed Jr., UConn; Hannes Steinbach, Washington
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