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Karl Towns wins third SEC Freshman of the Week honor this season

Kentucky recaptured the SEC Freshman of the Week award this week as Karl Towns garnered SEC honors for the third time this season.

Karl Towns - photo by Walter Cornett

– photo by Walter Cornett

After a brief one-week hiatus, recaptured the Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Week award this week as Karl-Anthony Towns garnered honors for the third time this season.

Towns played an integral part in helping Kentucky tie the best record in school history (25-0) by averaging 10.5 points, a team-high-tying 8.5 rebounds and a team-high 2.5 blocks last week in 's victories over and .

In the come-from-behind win at a sold-out LSU, Towns recorded his fourth double-double (12 points and a team-high 13 rebounds) in addition to a team-high four blocks, two steals and two assists.

As if his numbers weren't enough, Towns played an extremely important part down the stretch. With UK trailing 66-60, Towns snapped LSU's 16-0 run with a step-back jumper from just inside the 3-point line after LSU had taken a 66-60 lead. The Cats took the lead for good when Towns kept an offensive possession alive with an offensive rebound and then scored with 1:30 left to take a 70-69 lead.

Against South Carolina, Towns scored the first six points of the game to help Kentucky take an early lead that it would never look back from.

The 6-foot-11 forward leads UK in blocked shots (58) and is tied for the team high in rebounds per game (6.4). Over the last five games, Towns is leading Kentucky in scoring (13.4 points per game), rebounding (7.8) and blocked shots (nine).

Towns and the Wildcats have now hauled in 10 SEC Freshman of the Week accolades.  has won the award a league-high five times – including four straight from Jan. 12 to Feb. 2 – Towns has earned the honor three times, and teammates  and  have each garnered the award once this season.

UK returns to action Tuesday at Tennessee. That game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. ET tip on ESPN.

On This Day In UK Basketball History

On March 28, 1992, in what many called the “best NCAA Tournament game ever,” Kentucky takes defending NCAA champion Duke into overtime before losing 104-103 in the East Regional finals in Philadelphia. A last-second shot by Christian Laettner sends Duke to the Final Four, and breaks the hearts of Wildcat fans everywhere. It is Cawood Ledford’s last game as the “Voice of the Wildcats.”

 

On March 28, 1998, against Stanford, Kentucky rallied from a 10-point second-half deficit, then grabbed a 5-point overtime lead, before fending off the Cardinals to advance to the title game for the third straight season. Jeff Sheppard canned three long-range three-pointers - two in the final three minutes and one in overtime - en route to a career-high 27 points.

 

On March 28, 2014, unranked Kentucky beat No. 5 Louisville 74-69, in the 2014 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16.  Aaron Harrison buried a three-pointer from the left corner with 39 seconds left that put UK ahead to stay before 41,072 in Lucas Oil Stadium.

 

On March 28, 2015, No. 1 Kentucky defeated No. 8 Notre Dame, 68-66, in the 2015 NCAA Tournament Elite Eight.  With its 37-0 record on the line, Kentucky trailed Notre Dame 59-53 with 6:14 left. UK rallied in front of 19,464 fans in Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena and preserved its perfect season thanks to a crucial blocked shot by Willie Cauley-Stein and two game-deciding free throws from Andrew Harrison in the final seconds.

 

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