Photo by Keyli Chisesi (Go Big Blue Country)
Kentucky redshirt freshman Hamidou Diallo has been named the Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Week after a strong performance in a 93-86 victory vs. Virginia Tech on Saturday afternoon.
Diallo was instrumental in the Wildcats win, pouring in 20 points to give Kentucky its best victory of the season. The freshman guard added five rebounds, three steals, and knocked down a team-high four three-pointers.
Two of his four threes came when the Wildcats needed it most. With UK leading 75-71, Diallo knocked down his third three of the game to give the Wildcats their largest lead of the game at 78-71. However, the biggest shot of the game was a corner three from Diallo that extended the UK lead to 88-83 with 48 seconds remaining in the game.
The performance on Saturday marks the fourth consecutive game that Diallo has scored 19+ points. Over that stretch of games, he is averaging 20.3 points per game while shooting 53.6 percent.
Diallo is the first UK player to garner a weekly award, which is the deepest into a season that has occurred under John Calipari.
Diallo and the Wildcats will aim to record their 10th win of the season this Saturday vs. UCLA in New Orleans. The game is a part of the annual CBS Sports Classic and tipoff is set for 4 p.m. ET on CBS.
