UConn men’s basketball center Adama Sanogo named to multiple major award watch lists

Adama Sanogo, co-captain and starting center for the UConn men’s basketball team, was named to the advanced watch lists for two major college basketball awards.

Sanogo was among the final 10 named as candidates for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year award on Friday. On Thursday, the 6-foot-9 junior was one of 30 players named to the Naismith Player of the Year Midseason Team.

From Bamako, Mali, Sanogo leads the Big East Conference in scoring at 17.2 points per game and has the sixth-best field goal percentage (59.2%) among the rest of the conference. His team-leading 7.2 rebounds per game rank eighth in the Big East. In conference games only, Sanogo is fourth in the league in scoring (16.4), seventh in rebounding (7.6) and sixth in field goal percentage (57.1%).

Last season Sanogo was one of five finalists for the Abdul-Jabbar award which went to Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe. There are four Big East representatives among the final 10 candidates this year, including Ryan Kalkbrenner (Creighton), Joel Soriano (St. John’s), Jack Nunge (Xavier) and Sanogo.

Fan voting for the award has opened on the Hoophall Awards website and will count as one committee vote as the group of 10 is narrowed down to five finalists. Those five finalists will be presented in March to a committee of media members, head coaches, sports information directors and Hall of Famers.

The Big East has four representatives on the Naismith Player of the Year Midseason Team, including Bryce Hopkins (Providence), Tyler Kolek (Marquette), Kalkbrenner and Sanogo.

Sanogo, named the Big East Preseason Player of the Year, is also on the midseason watch list for the Oscar Robertson Trophy as well as the NABC Player of the Year and was on the Sporting News Midseason All-American Team.

The full Kareem Abdul-Jabbar award top 10:

• Oumar Ballo, Arizona

• Ryan Kalkbrenner, Creighton

• Oscar Tshiebwe, Kentucky

• Hunter Dickinson, Michigan

• Armando Bacot, North Carolina

• Zach Edey, Purdue

• Clifford Omoruyi, Rutgers

• Joel Soriano, St. John’s

• Adama Sanogo, UConn

• Jack Nunge, Xavier