How Kansas basketball forward KJ Adams earned Big 12 Player of the Week
Kansas sophomore forward KJ Adams has been named Big 12 men’s basketball Player of the Week in a vote by a media panel that covers the league, the conference office announced Monday.
Adams, a 6-foot-7 sophomore forward from Austin, Texas, scored a career-high 22 points and grabbed six rebounds in a 79-75 victory over Oklahoma last Tuesday. He had 15 points with six rebounds and hit the game-winning shot in Saturday’s 62-60 win over Iowa State. For the week, Adams averaged 18.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and shot 63.6% from the field.
Adams is averaging 10.4 points and 4.5 rebounds per game overall and 16.0 points and 4.5 rebounds in Big 12 contests.
On last season’s NCAA Championship team, Adams averaged 1.0 points and 0.8 rebounds in 37 games played.
Earlier this season, redshirt-junior forward Jalen Wilson was the Big 12 Player of the Week (Dec. 5), while freshman guard Gradey Dick was named Big 12 Newcomer of the Week on Nov. 21 and Dec. 5.
“It’s awesome. I’m happy for him. It’s a really nice honor,” KU coach Bill Self said of Adams on Monday. “It doesn’t mean anything after today, but when we recruited him and watching him last year (as a freshman), to think that two months into a season that he could already be named Big 12 Player of the Week is something that I think is really cool. He did have a great week though. He made plays when the game was on the line.”
Texas’ Sir’Jabari Rice was named Big 12 Newcomer of the Week He led Texas to a pair of comeback home wins last week against TCU (79-75) and Texas Tech (72-70). In the two contests, Rice averaged 16.5 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 25.5 minutes per game. He scored 15 versus TCU and 18 points against Texas Tech.
This story was originally published January 16, 2023 at 7:30 PM with the headline "How Kansas basketball forward KJ Adams earned Big 12 Player of the Week."
