Jamaican native Nick Richards has won both the NCAA March Madness National Player of the Week and the South-Eastern Conference (SEC) Co-Player of the Week awards.
It comes after he averaged 22.5 points, 11 rebounds and 3.5 blocks to lead the University of Kentucky to wins against Georgia and 18th ranked Texas Tech respectively.
The awards are the second at both the national and conference level for Richards who was previously named U.S. Basketball writers association and SEC Player of the Week after his performance in leading Kentucky to victory over arch-rivals Louisville in December.
Richards in the outing against Texas Tech tied his career-high with 25 points to go along with 14 rebound for his eighth double-double of the season.
A feat that saw him become just the second player of the John Calipari era at Kentucky after LA Lakers All-Star Anthony Davis to put up at least 20 points, 13 rebounds and 4 blocks in a game.
Nick Richards vs. Texas Tech:
25 Pts
14 Reb
4 Blk@iamnickrichards is the first @KentuckyMBB player since @AntDavis23 to put up 20 Pts, 13 Reb and 4 Blk in a game đź‘€ pic.twitter.com/h65Jw8jJwT— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) January 26, 2020
Richards who joined Kentucky as a five-star prospect was recently ranked 18th on ESPN’s list of the top 25 college basketball players.
The 22 year old was in action on Tuesday where he overcame early foul trouble to lead the Wildcats to a scrappy come-from behind 71-62 win over Vanderbilt.
After picking up two quick fouls and being limited to just 5 minutes in the first half, Richards went 7 of 11 from the field for 15 points and 11 rebounds in 17 second half minutes to earn the Player of the Game award and continue to stake his claim as Kentucky’s MVP.
Kentucky is now 9-1 against Vanderbilt over the last 10 games and also improved to 16-4 overall and 6-1 in the SEC.
Richards will look to keep rolling on Saturday when the Wildcats take on No. 17 Auburn with College GameDay in attendance.