Kansas redshirt freshman guard Ben McLemore declared for the NBA Draft at a press conference in Allen Fieldhouse Tuesday afternoon.

“I want to thank my teammates a lot for supporting me and always pushing me each and every day at practice,” McLemore said. “I love those guys. It was great playing with those guys. I want to thank my family and the coaching staff, too, but most of all I want to thank the KU fans. Without the KU fans, Kansas wouldn’t be like this. The KU fans are great and I’d like to thank them a lot for cheering me on and cheering this whole program on. I love that about Kansas. That’s the reason I came here.”

A Consensus All-America Second Team selection and All-Big 12 First Team honoree, McLemore led Kansas in scoring in 2012-13 with 15.9 points per game, which ranked third in the Big 12. The 6-foot-5 St. Louis, Mo., native led the Big 12 with an 87.0 free throw percentage and also ranked among the league leaders in field goal percentage (eighth at 49.5), three-point field goal percentage (second at 42.0), three-point field goals made (sixth at 2.0) and rebounds (20th at 5.2).

McLemore’s 15.9 points per game this season broke the KU freshman record of 14.6 ppg posted by Jayhawk legend Danny Manning in 1985. McLemore’s 589 points and his 87.0 free throw percentage also broke KU freshman marks.

During the 2012-13 season, McLemore was a three-time Big 12 Rookie of the Week and one-time league player of the week. He became only the second Jayhawk in the 17-year history of the Big 12 to have earned Big 12 Player and Rookie of the Week in the same season. Mario Chalmers also accomplished the feat during the 2005-06 season.

McLemore had 11 games of 20 points or more in 2012-13, including three 30-point contests. His 36 points against West Virginia (3/2) broke the KU freshman single-game scoring record and his three 30-point efforts also set a KU freshman single-season mark.

— KU Sports Information —