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NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Vanderbilt women’s basketball freshman Mikayla Blakes was selected to the John R. Wooden Award late midseason top 20 watch list, as announced by the Los Angeles Athletic Club on Tuesday.
Blakes earns a selection to the Wooden Award late midseason top 20 watch list after a spectacular start to her Vanderbilt campaign. The Wooden Award, named after the legendary UCLA men’s basketball coach, is given annually to the most outstanding men’s and women’s college basketball players. Starting in 2004, the award was extended to women’s basketball. Blakes plays her way onto the Wooden Award watch list after not appearing on any of the preseason or midseason top 25 watch lists.
The guard is seventh in the NCAA in scoring at 22.1 points per game, an average that also leads all freshmen nationally. Blakes is making a strong case for national freshman of the year consideration, as she leads all NCAA Division I freshmen in scoring (22.1 ppg), points scored (531), and field goals made (180). The guard ranks in the top five among freshmen nationally in free throw percentage (3rd; 86.2%), steals (t-3rd; 58), made 3-point field goals (4th; 53), and steals per game (4th, 2.42). Blakes has scored 20-plus points in 15 games this season, which leads all NCAA freshmen, and she is the only frosh nationally to score 33-plus points in multiple games this season.
The Somerset, New Jersey, native set the SEC single-game and NCAA true freshman single-game scoring records on Jan. 30 with 53 points at Florida in a 99-86 win on Jan. 30. It was the first time this season – on either the men’s or women’s side – that an NCAA basketball player has scored 50-plus points this season. Her 53 points were also an SEC single-game record, regardless of class, and set Vanderbilt’s single-season record.
The Commodores return to Memorial Gymnasium Thursday, as Vanderbilt welcomes Mississippi State to the Music City. Tipoff against the Bulldogs is set for 8 p.m. and airs live on SEC Network.
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