LOS ANGELES – Kansas men’s basketball senior Perry Ellis was named to the John R. Wooden Award® presented by Wendy’s® All-America Team for 2015-16, the Los Angeles Athletic Club announced on ESPNU Monday evening.
Selected by the Wooden Award National Advisory Board, Ellis is one of 10 student-athletes named Wooden Award All-America, which took into consideration a player’s entire season of play, as well as opening rounds of the NCAA Championship. Those student-athletes have proven to their universities that they are making progress toward graduation and are maintaining at least a cumulative 2.0 GPA. A three-time Academic All-Big 12 selection, Ellis will graduate from Kansas with a bachelor’s degree in sport management and business minor this spring.
Ellis scored 20 or more points in three of his final four games and seven of his last nine contests. The Wichita forward led Kansas in scoring at 16.9 ppg and was second in rebounding at 5.9 rpg. Ellis posted 16 games or 20 or more points this season and averaged 17.7 points and 5.8 rebounds during Big 12 play. His 16.9 points per game rank third in the Big 12 and Ellis also is among the league leaders in field goal percentage (fourth at 53.1), free throw percentage (eighth at 73.5) and rebounds (11th).
Ellis ended his career No. 8 on the Kansas career scoring list with 1,798 points and No. 12 on the KU career rebounding list at 834. His 16 career double-doubles tied for 13th all-time in Kansas history. Ellis is only the fifth player in KU history to rank in the top 12 in both scoring and rebounding, joining Danny Manning (2,951 points/1,187 rebounds), Nick Collison (2,097 / 1,143), Raef LaFrentz (2,066 / 1,186) and Clyde Lovellette (1,979 / 839).
Earlier Monday, Ellis was named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) All-America Second Team as he has been named to six All-America teams this season.
Kansas ended its season with a 33-5 record. The victories marked the ninth time in school history the Jayhawks have won 33 or more games, including five seasons under head coach Bill Self. KU won the Big 12 regular-season title posting a 15-3 league record. Included in Kansas’ successes this season were the Maui Invitational title, its 12th-straight, 16th Big 12 and NCAA-leading 59th overall conference regular-season championship, the Big 12 Postseason Championship title and its 21st NCAA Championship Elite Eight appearance. Additionally, last summer KU represented the United States and won the gold medal at the 2015 World University Games in Korea posting an 8-0 record.
2016 WOODEN AWARD ALL-AMERICA TEAM
Name, School (Conference; Ht.; Yr.; Pos.)
Grayson Allen, Duke (ACC; 6-5; Soph.; G)
Malcolm Brogdon, Virginia (ACC; 6-5; Sr.; G)
Kris Dunn, Providence (Big East; 6-4; Jr.; G)
PERRY ELLIS, Kansas (Big 12; 6-8; Sr.; F)
Yogi Ferrell, Indiana (Big Ten; 6-0; Sr.; G)
Buddy Hield, Oklahoma (Big 12; 6-4; Sr.; G)
Brice Johnson, North Carolina (ACC; 6-10; Sr.; F)
Georges Niang, Iowa State (Big 12; 6-8; Sr.; F)
Tyler Ulis, Kentucky (SEC; 5-9; Soph.; G)
Denzel Valentine, Michigan State (Big Ten; 6-5; Sr.; G)
— KU Athletics —