UConn’s Adama Sanogo on list of final five Abdul-Jabbar Award candidates

NEW YORK – UConn junior Adama Sanogo was listed as a finalist on Friday for the Basketball Hall of Fame’s Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award, which recognizes the best center in college basketball.

Sanogo, one of five on the list, was selected All-Big East first-teamer by the conference’s coaches for the second straight year. He led the Huskies in scoring (16.7) and rebounding (7.2) while shooting 59.2% overall, 36.2% from three-point range, and 78.2% from the foul line. He has had nine 20-plus point games this year and five double-doubles. Counting all games, he leads the Big East in scoring and is seventh in rebounding.

In Thursday’s Big East Tournament quarterfinal game against Providence, Sanogo scored 10 points on 5-for-5 shooting from the field and grabbed five rebounds.

Sanogo was also one of last season’s five finalists after averaging 14.8 points and 8.8 rebounds with a 50.4% field goal percentage and 55 blocked shots. The 2022 award went to Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe, who led the nation in rebounding per game (15.1) and averaged more than 17 points with a field goal percentage north of 60% – 13th-best in the country. Tshiebwe is also among the final five this season.

Joining Sanogo and Tshiebwe on this year’s list is North Carolina’s Armando Bacot, Purdue’s Zach Edey and Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner, a personal rival of Sanogo’s and the Big East Defensive Player of the Year.

“The student-athletes on this list should feel tremendously proud of all they have accomplished to be associated with basketball’s all-time leading scorer,” said John L. Doleva, President and CEO of the Basketball Hall of Fame, when the preseason watch list was announced. “With his focus on both education and athletics, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s perspective is cherished by our committee when evaluating talent each year.”

The Abdul-Jabbar Award selection began with 20 players on the preseason list and was then narrowed down to 10. Abdul-Jabbar, now the NBA’s second all-time leading scorer, and the selection committee will decide the winner.

The final five (points, rebounds, blocks per game)

Adama Sanogo, UConn (16.7, 7.2, 0.8)

Ryan Kalkbrenner, Creighton (15.3, 6.2, 2.2)

Oscar Tshiebwe, Kentucky (16.4, 13.1, 1.0)

Armando Bacot, North Carolina (15.9, 10.4, 1.0)

Zach Edey, Purdue (21.9, 12.8, 2.3)