Jackson is the second UK player to win the award this season
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – February 22, 2021
After helping lead the Kentucky men’s basketball team to a pair of Southeastern Conference road victories, freshman Isaiah Jackson was named the league’s Freshman of the Week on Monday. It is the first such honor of Jackson’s career.
Jackson averaged 17.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game in wins at Vanderbilt and in an upset of No. 19/20 Tennessee. Against Vanderbilt, the Pontiac, Michigan, native poured in 15 points and narrowly missed on a double-double with nine rebounds. He also was a perfect 5 for 5 from the field against the Commodores.
The 6-foot-10 forward had a team-high 16 points and added seven rebounds and a pair of rejections against the Volunteers.
The win over Tennessee was the first over an Associated Press Top 25 opponent this season for the Wildcats. The 15-point margin of victory also matched the largest win over a ranked team on the road under John Calipari.
Kentucky has dominated the weekly SEC awards with Calipari at the helm. UK has won more weekly SEC honors (110) than any other school during the Calipari era, including 85 SEC Freshman of the Week honors and 25 SEC Player of the Week awards.
Jackson is the second Wildcat to win SEC Freshman of the Week this season. Dontaie Allen earned the award on Jan. 4 following a breakout scoring performance at Mississippi State.
During UK’s three-game winning streak, Jackson has done a little bit of everything for the Wildcats, but it’s been his breakthrough offensively that has provided the biggest spark. He has his three largest scoring outputs of the season in each of the last three games. He has snared at least seven rebounds in all three victories and has two blocks in each game as well
Jackson has been a menace for the Wildcats this season defensively. He has 56 blocked shots on the year and ranks third in the country in block percentage at 13.2%. Jackson is 13th in the nation with an average of 2.7 blocks per game. He leads the team with six double-digit rebounding efforts.
