Wooden Award Watch List Includes Kris Murray

Hawkeye Junior Among Players in Running for Nation Honor

Iowa's Kris Murray (24) drives the ball during a game against Bethune-Cookman on Nov. 7, 2022 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa. (Rob Howe/HawkeyeNation.com)

LOS ANGELES - University of Iowa junior forward Kris Murray has been named to the John R. Wooden Award Preseason Top 50. The announcement was made on Tuesday by the Los Angeles Athletic Club.

Chosen by a preseason poll of national college basketball experts, the list is comprised of student-athletes who are the early front-runners for one of the sport’s most prestigious honor.

This marks the fourth straight season and five of the last eight years that the Hawkeyes have had a student-athlete on a Wooden Award Watch List. Kris’ brother, Keegan Murray, was a Wooden Award All-American and finalist last season. Luka Garza was the recipient of the 2021 Wooden Award and was a finalist in 2020 award, while Jarrod Uthoff was a semifinalist in 2016.

Murray (6-foot-8, 220 pounds) is averaging a team-best 18 points per game this season, has made all eight free throw attempts, and ranks second on the squad in rebounds per outing (7.5).

Murray was Iowa’s leading scorer (9.7) and rebounder (4.3) off the bench last season. He improved his scoring average by 9.1 points and rebounding average by 3.7 per outing. The native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was second on the team in 3-point percentage (.397), blocks per game (0.9) and field goals made (124), third in offensive (1.6) and defensive (2.7) rebounds per contest, and fourth in steals (0.8) per game. Murray made at least one 3-pointer in a team-best 17 consecutive games (Jan. 22-March 13). His 31 blocks and 43 triples rank seventh and eighth, respectively, by a Hawkeye sophomore.

Murray is one of seven players from the Big Ten Conference on the preseason list.

Iowa (2-0) returns to action on Wednesday at Seton Hall (2-0) in the Gavitt Games. Tipoff is slated for 6:30 p.m. at the Prudential Center in South Orange, New Jersey.