Take Texas Tech (-5) At Home Vs. Longhorns
The starting point guards for both the Tennessee men’s and women’s basketball teams landed on national watch lists this week. Lady Vols’ guard Jordan Horston landed on the Wooden Award Last Season Watch List while Vols’ point guard Kennedy Chandler is a finalist for the Bob Cousy Award.
The Wooden Award goes to the nation’s top player and Horston was one of 20 players included on the late season list. The Bob Cousy Award is given to the nation’s top point guards and Chandler is one of 10 finalists for the award.
When star shooting guard Rae Burrell went down with a knee injury in Tennessee’s season opening win, Horston immediately stepped up to keep the Lady Vols afloat. The Columbus, Ohio native’s tenacity and late game heroics are a major reason Tennessee lost just one game in Burell’s absence.
The 6-foot-2 point guard is averaging 16.2 points, 3.9 assists and 9.7 rebounds per game. Horston’s three-point shooting is struggling this season with the junior shooting just 22% from beyond the arc. However, Horston’s rebounding has taken a major step forward and the point guard has more boards than she did in either of her first two seasons at Tennessee.
Horston is one of just three SEC players to make the 20-player watch list.
After landing on Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Watch List last week, Chandler finds himself on the nation’s top point guard list a week later.
Chandler is one four SEC player on the nation’s top point guard list, joining Kentucky Sahvir Wheeler, Alabama’a Jahvon Quinerly and Auburn’s Wendell Green Jr. The Memphis native is the only freshman that’s a finalist for the award.
The former five-star is averaging 13.2 points, 4.7 assists and 2.3 steals per game this season. Chandler has impressed with his speed and defensive instincts, but has struggled with consistency.
Both Chandler and Horston will be in action this week with the Vols hosting Texas A&M on Tuesday night and the Lady Vols’ traveling to Florida on Thursday night.
