LOS ANGELES – Duke sophomore guard Luke Kennard was named to the John R. Wooden Award Late Season Top 20 on Wednesday when the Los Angeles Athletic Club announced the watch list on ESPNU.

Kennard leads Duke in scoring with an average of 19.8 points per game and shooting .531 from the floor, .458 from outside the arc and .850 from the free throw line. He is one of four players nationally – and the only major-conference player – to average at least 19.5 points while shooting at least .500 from the floor, .400 from outside the arc and .800 from the line.

Kennard was also recently named one of 10 finalists for the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award.

The Franklin, Ohio, native has scored in double figures in 22 of Duke’s 23 games this season, eclipsing the 20-point mark a team-high 11 times. He ranks third in the ACC in scoring. His .531 field goal percentage ranks second overall and best among guards in the conference. He leads the league in three-point field goal percentage (.458) and ranks fifth in free throw percentage (.850) while averaging the third-most minutes per game (34.7) in the ACC.

Kennard had perhaps the half of the year in college basketball in Duke’s 85-83 win at Wake Forest on Jan. 28, going 10-of-10 from the floor and 5-of-5 from deep to total 30 points, four assists and three rebounds in the second half. He knocked down the game-winning three-pointer with 6.6 seconds to play.

Kennard has an opportunity to become the fifth Duke player – and first since Christian Laettner in 1992 – to average at least 20.0 points while shooting at least 50 percent from the field.

For his career, Kennard owns averages of 14.9 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 29.8 minutes. He is a career .472 shooter from the floor, .377 from three-point range and .868 from the free throw line. After just 59 career games, he is only 120 points shy of joining Duke’s 1,000-point club.

 

The 41st annual presentation of the John R. Wooden Award will be the anchor presentation of the ESPN College Basketball Awards Show presented by Wendy’s on ESPN2 on Friday, April 7, 2017.