Latest news with #JohnWoodenAward
Reuters
02-04-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
JuJu Watkins, Paige Bueckers top Wooden Award finalists
April 2 - Southern California sophomore guard JuJu Watkins and UConn senior guard Paige Bueckers head the list of finalists for the 2025 John Wooden Award that goes to women's college basketball's most outstanding player, the Los Angeles Athletic Club announced Tuesday night. UCLA junior center Lauren Betts, Texas sophomore forward Madison Booker and Notre Dame sophomore guard Hannah Hidalgo also have been named Wooden Award finalists. The quintet also has earned spots on the 10-person Wooden All-America team. Watkins, who already has earned the Associated Press Player of the Year award, averaged 23.9 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists before tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee during the NCAA Tournament's second round. Bueckers, who won the 2021 Wooden Award as a freshman, provides 20.1 points, 4.8 assists and 4.4 rebounds for a UConn squad that plays UCLA on Friday in the second Final Four semifinal in Tampa, Fla. Betts has led UCLA to its first Final Four with 20.0 points, 9.6 rebounds and 3.0 blocks per game. Booker paces Final Four-bound Texas with 16.5 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.6 steals. Hidalgo averaged 23.8 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.7 steals and 3.6 assists per game for the Fighting Irish. Joining the five finalists on the Wooden All-America team are Kentucky's Georgia Amoore, Florida State's Ta'Niya Latson, Notre Dame's Olivia Miles, LSU's Aneesah Morrow and TCU's Hailey Van Lith. Latson led the nation with 25.2 points per game while Morrow paced all rebounders with 13.5 per game.
Miami Herald
02-04-2025
- Sport
- Miami Herald
JuJu Watkins, Paige Bueckers top Wooden Award finalists
Southern California sophomore guard JuJu Watkins and UConn senior guard Paige Bueckers head the list of finalists for the 2025 John Wooden Award that goes to women's college basketball's most outstanding player, the Los Angeles Athletic Club announced Tuesday night. UCLA junior center Lauren Betts, Texas sophomore forward Madison Booker and Notre Dame sophomore guard Hannah Hidalgo also have been named Wooden Award finalists. The quintet also has earned spots on the 10-person Wooden All-America team. Watkins, who already has earned the Associated Press Player of the Year award, averaged 23.9 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists before tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee during the NCAA Tournament's second round. Bueckers, who won the 2021 Wooden Award as a freshman, provides 20.1 points, 4.8 assists and 4.4 rebounds for a UConn squad that plays UCLA on Friday in the second Final Four semifinal in Tampa, Fla. Betts has led UCLA to its first Final Four with 20.0 points, 9.6 rebounds and 3.0 blocks per game. Booker paces Final Four-bound Texas with 16.5 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.6 steals. Hidalgo averaged 23.8 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.7 steals and 3.6 assists per game for the Fighting Irish. Joining the five finalists on the Wooden All-America team are Kentucky's Georgia Amoore, Florida State's Ta'Niya Latson, Notre Dame's Olivia Miles, LSU's Aneesah Morrow and TCU's Hailey Van Lith. Latson led the nation with 25.2 points per game while Morrow paced all rebounders with 13.5 per game. --Field Level Media Field Level Media 2023 - All Rights Reserved
USA Today
08-03-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Alabama's Mark Sears beats top-ranked Auburn basketball with overtime buzzer-beater
Alabama's Mark Sears beats top-ranked Auburn basketball with overtime buzzer-beater Show Caption Hide Caption VIDEO: Nate Oats previews Alabama basketball finale at Auburn Alabama basketball is getting ready for its last game of the 2024-25 regular season. What Crimson Tide coach Nate Oats said before the trip to Auburn. Alabama's Mark Sears didn't have his best game of the of the year on Saturday. But he did hit arguably the biggest shot of the Crimson Tide's 2024-25 season, hitting a buzzer-beating, game winner to beat top-ranked Auburn, 93-91 in overtime. One week after being on the wrong end of a buzzer-beater vs. Tennessee, Sears' last-second shot from the top of the paint lifted the eight-ranked Crimson Tide over the Tigers, with the teams splitting their games in the regular season. It was the first time all season the Tigers lost consecutive games after dropping their Tuesday game to Texas A&M. Here's the shot from Sears: MARK SEARS WITH A BAMA BUZZER-BEATER TO BEAT NO. 1 AUBURN IN OT! — ESPN (@espn) March 8, 2025 Sears finished with nine points on 3-of-9 shooting, including 1 of 4 from 3-point range. He also added three rebounds and seven assists in the win, though Alabama was led in scoring by Grant Nelson's 23 points on 8-of-15 shooting. He also added eight rebounds and a block in the win. Auburn's Johni Broome, names as one of the top 15 players for the John Wooden Award on Saturday, was spectacular again, with a game-high 34 points on 15-of-28 shooting. He also added eight rebounds, three assists, three steals and five blocks. That wasn't the only notable storyline from the game, which saw Auburn's Chad Baker-Mazara ejected with a flagrant 2 foul after elbowing Alabama's Chris Youngblood in the back of his head midway through the second quarter. Up next for Alabama and Auburn is the men's SEC tournament. Auburn has already claimed the top overall seed in the conference tournament, though its grasp on the No. 1 overall seed may be in danger if it doesn't win it. The Crimson Tide has already been guaranteed a double bye in the tournament.
Reuters
12-02-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
Illinois snaps UCLA's 7-game winning streak
February 12 - Freshman point guard Kasparas Jakucionis scored 24 points and grabbed a game-high eight rebounds as Illinois snapped UCLA's seven-game winning streak with an 83-78 Big Ten victory Tuesday night in Champaign, Ill. Jakucionis, one of 20 players named Tuesday to the John Wooden Award late midseason watch list, scored 17 in the second half as the Illini (17-8, 9-6) never trailed, but saw their 16-point lead with five minutes left dwindle to two with 0:28 to play. Tomislav Ivisic added 16 points while Kylan Boswell scored all 11 of his points in the second half, which included two clinching free throws with 4.2 seconds left. Illinois, which leads the nation with its +11.3 rebounding margin, outrebounded UCLA 36-23. Tyler Bilodeau canned seven 3-pointers on his way to a game-high 25 points for UCLA (18-7, 9-5. Kobe Johnson posted 14 points despite foul trouble and Sebastian Mack added 11 off the bench. Illinois broke out to a 26-13 lead that forced UCLA to burn two timeouts to figure things out. Bilodeau swished two 3-pointers to fuel a 12-3 run over the final 5:20 of the first half that pulled the Bruins within 31-25 at the break. Every time Illinois tried to pull away in the second half, UCLA would jump right back into the game. Six minutes into the second half, UCLA pulled within 45-40 on Mack's circus-shot layup over the 7-foot-2 Ivisic while getting knocked to the floor. Mack missed the subsequent free throw, then was called for fouling Ivisic on what UCLA believed to be a clean steal. Illinois answered with Morez Johnson Jr.'s putback dunk after he discarded slender Aday Mara in the paint. Then UCLA coach Mick Cronin, irked over the Mack call and Mara non-call, was whistled for a technical as the teams headed upcourt. Boswell cashed the technical free throws to boost Illinois' lead to 49-40. After Bilodeau canned his fifth 3-pointer to bring UCLA within 58-51, Ivisic answered with back-to-back 3-pointers and Jakucionis slashed for a layup to push Illinois' lead to 66-51 with 7:34 to go. Illinois seized a 76-60 advantage on Ben Humrichous' 3-pointer with 4:51 to go, but UCLA reeled off 13 straight points. Johnson hit two 3-pointers during the run and William Kyle III's dunk with 1:08 left got the Bruins within 76-73. Jakucionis stopped the run with a stepback 20-footer, but ex-Illini Skyy Clark, who was heckled much of the night, answered with a 3-pointer to get UCLA within two points for the first time since the opening three minutes. Illinois cracked UCLA's full-court pressure to get Ivisic an uncontested dunk, then the Illini went 3-for-4 at the free-throw line to clinch the win.
