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Texas Tech basketball: Jarrett Culver on Wooden Award midseason top 25

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TX - JANUARY 08: Jarrett Culver #23 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders goes to the basket during the second half of the game against the Oklahoma Sooners on January 8, 2019 at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas. Texas Tech defeated Oklahoma 66-59. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TX - JANUARY 08: Jarrett Culver #23 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders goes to the basket during the second half of the game against the Oklahoma Sooners on January 8, 2019 at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas. Texas Tech defeated Oklahoma 66-59. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images) /
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Wednesday, the Texas Tech basketball team’s star sophomore Jarrett Culver, was named one of 25 players still in contention for the John R. Wooden Award.

This season, Lubbock’s Jarrett Culver has been one of the most improved players in the nation and Wednesday, he was named as one of 25 players on the John R. Wooden Award midseason watchlist.  Being included as a candidate for the game’s most prestigious award is further proof of how fantastic Culver’s play has been for the Red Raiders.

Founded in 1976, the Wooden Award is named after legendary UCLA head coach John Wooden who won ten national championships and appeared in twelve Final Fours.  Recent winners of the award include Jalen Brunson (2018), Anthony Davis (2012), Blake Griffin (2009), Kevin Durant (2007) and Tim Duncan (1997).

What’s more, two of the last three winners of the award have come from the Big 12.  Kansas guard Frank Mason III took home the award in 2017 as did Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield in 2016.

As for this year’s candidates, only two come from the Big 12 with Culver and Kansas forward Dedric Lawson representing the conference.  But the overwhelming favorite is Duke freshman forward Zion Williamson.

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Interestingly, when Culver and Williamson squared off on December 20th, Culver had the better stat line and was the best player on the Madison Square Garden court.  With 25 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists two steals and a block, he single-handedly kept his team in the game as Tech led the No. 2 Blue Devils for over half of the game.

Meanwhile, Williamson was also a force scoring 17 points and grabbing 13 rebounds before fouling out.  While the presumed No. 1 overall pick in this summer’s NBA Draft was dominant, he had far more help from his teammates than Culver as Duke’s Tre Jones took added 13 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 6 steals.  Meanwhile no Red Raider besides Culver had more than seven points.

This season, Culver has become one of the most hyped NBA prospects in the nation thanks in large part to his performance against Duke.  And he has blossomed in a starring role for the No. 8 Red Raiders after being a complimentary piece in last year’s Elite 8 run.

He leads Texas Tech in points (19.0), rebounds (6.2) and assists (3.9) and he is the second-leading scorer in the Big 12.  His scoring is up 7.8 points per game despite being the sole focus of opposing defenses and his field goal percentage is up eleven points (56.4%) despite the fact that he is attempting over four more shots (12.7) per game than he did last year (8.6).

dark. Next. Tech beats Oklahoma 66-59

Next month, the Wooden Award watch list will be cut to 20 players and following the Elite 8, ten players will be named Wooden All-Americans.  The winner will be announced on April 12th at the ESPN College Basketball Awards airing live from Los Angeles.

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