RCW: Sport Spotlight 4.21 (Men's Basketball)
It’s a double-double for Udoka Azubuike, his fifth of the season! #KUbball pic.twitter.com/kop1TPWcE9
— Kansas Basketball (@KUHoops) February 7, 2018
A post shared by Kansas Basketball (@kuhoops) on Feb 4, 2018 at 9:00am PST
Kansas senior Devonte’ Graham has joined the elite of elites in college basketball and in KU history as he nears the end of his college career.
The Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year and preseason all-conference team member, Graham has lived up to his accolades. On Monday, Feb. 5, Graham was named one of 10 candidates for the Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Award and a Wooden Award Midseason top-20 selection.
Graham is the only player in NCAA Division I averaging 17.0-plus points, 7.0-plus assists, 1.8-plus steals and fewer than 3.0 turnovers per game. Graham is fifth nationally in assists per game at 7.4 and he leads the Big 12 in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.7. Graham is scoring 19.2 points per game in Big 12 play and 17.5 in all games, which is third in the Big 12. Besides leading the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio, Graham is second in the conference in assists (7.4), eighth in free throw percentage (83.5), fifth in 3-point field goals made (3.0) and fourth in steals (1.9).
A native of Raleigh, North Carolina, Graham recently became just the third player in school history to tally 1,400 points, 500 assists and 175 steals in a career. Graham is now five points shy of becoming the 22nd Jayhawk ever to score 1,500 career points. His 528 assists are 10th on the KU career list and his 180 steals are also 10th. KU All-Americans Darnell Valentine (1,821 points, 609 assists, 336 steals) and Kirk Hinrich (1,753 points, 668 assists, 206 steals) are the only other Jayhawks to hit those numbers. Valentine played at KU from 1978-81 and Hinrich from 2000-03.
Graham is also on pace to became the No. 2 3-point shooter in school history. His career 258 treys trail Billy Thomas (1995-98) by 11 for second on Kansas’ career 3-pointers list. Jeff Boschee (1999-2002) is KU’s all-time 3-point leader with 338. Graham’s current 3-point field goal percentage of 41.5 percent (258-of-621) ranks ninth on the KU career list.
As he will lead the Jayhawks through the Allen Fieldhouse tunnel only three more times wearing a KU jersey, Graham’s legacy has clearly been etched into the KU records books.
