All-America Honors for Ellis Begin with USA Today
LAWRENCE, Kan. – What a week for Kansas senior forward Perry Ellis, and it’s only Monday. On Sunday, March 5, the Wichita forward was a unanimous selection All-Big 12 First Team by the league coaches. Earlier that morning he was named Big 12 Player of the Week for the sixth time in his career. Then on Monday, Ellis was named second-team All-America by USA TODAY.
A Wichita native, Ellis is coming off back-to-back 20-point performances with 20 points at Texas (Feb. 29) and 22 points against Iowa State (March 5) on his senior night. The two efforts garnered Ellis with the final 2015-16 conference player of the week honor as he has 11 20-point efforts this season.
Ellis is 86 points from cracking the top-10 on KU’s career scoring list while leading No. 1 Kansas in scoring (16.5 ppg) and ranking second in rebounding (6.0 rpg) this season. He has nine games of scoring 19 or more points in Big 12 play this season, including seven 20-point efforts and overall ranks third in the league in scoring and ninth in rebounding. Ellis also ranks among the Big 12 leaders in field goal percentage (fifth at 52.1) and free throw percentage (12th at 76.3). Ellis averaged 17.7 points and 5.8 rebounds during Big 12 play in 2015-16.
KU’s senior leader is a finalist for the Wooden Award and the Senior CLASS Award.
USA TODAY All-America Teams
First Team
Buddy Hield, Sr., G, Oklahoma
Brice Johnson, Sr., F, North Carolina
Jakob Poeltl, So., F, Utah
Tyler Ulis, So., G, Kentucky
Denzel Valentine, Sr., G, Michigan State
Second Team
Grayson Allen, So., G, Duke
Malcolm Brogdon, Sr., G, Virginia
PERRY ELLIS, Sr., F, Kansas
Yogi Ferrell, Sr., G, Indiana
Jamal Murray, Fr., G, Kentucky
Third Team
Kris Dunn, Sr., G, Providence
Trevon Bluiett, So., G, Xavier
Georges Niang, Sr., F, Iowa State
Ben Simmons, Fr., F, LSU
Jarrod Uthoff, Sr., F, Iowa
Perry Ellis 2015-16 Accolades
USA Today All-America Second Team
All-Big 12 First Team
Big 12 Player of the Week (3/5)
Academic All-Big 12 First Team
Senior CLASS Award Finalist (Top 10)
Naismith Trophy Midseason 35
Wooden Award Late Season Top 20
Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award Finalist (1 of 10)
Senior CLASS Award Candidate (Top 30)
Wooden Award Midseason Top 25
Lute Olson Award Mid-Season Watch (1 of 35)
Oscar Robertson Trophy Watch List (1 of 33)
Naismith Trophy Watch List (1 of 50)
Maui Jim Maui Invitational All-Tournament Team
KUAthletics.com: The official online source for Kansas Athletics, Williams Education Fund contributions, tickets, merchandise, multimedia, photos and much, much more.
