Clark, Czinano, Murray Late Season Wooden Top 20

Three Hawkeyes Make Respective Cuts for Major Awards

IOWA CITY, Iowa - Iowa junior guard Caitlin Clark and fifth-year post player Monika Czinano was named to the John R. Wooden Award Women’s Late Season Top 20 on Monday. Hawkeye junior Kris Murray has been named to the John R. Wooden Award Men's Late Season Top 20. The announcement was made Monday evening by the Los Angeles Athletic Club.

On the women's side, all 20 players on the Wooden Watch were named to the Wooden Award Midseason Top 25 earlier this month. Three schools have multiple players on the list: Iowa (Clark and Czinano), South Carolina (Aliyah Boston and Zia Cooke) and Stanford (Cameron Brink and Haley Jones).

Clark has been tabbed as the Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year, All-Big Ten by coaches and media (unanimous), Nancy Lieberman Preseason Watch List, AP All-American (unanimous), Naismith, Wooden Preseason Watch List, and The Athletic Player of the Year.

This season, Clark is leading the Hawkeyes with 27.1 points, 7.9 rebounds and 7.9 assists per game. Clark was also the fourth Iowa women’s basketball player to eclipse 2,000 career points and tied Elena Delle Donne as that fastest players to reach that milestone in 75 career games. Clark has registered a double-double in five straight games.

The West Des Moines, Iowa, native also was recognized as Big Ten Player of the Year and was a Naismith and Wooden Award finalist in 2022.

Czinano was the fifth Hawkeye to surpass 2,000 career points and 38^th all-time in Big Ten Conference history. Czinano and Clark were the first pair of teammates to accomplish those feats in the same season in Big Ten women’s basketball history. Czinano is averaging 18.1 points per game and is shooting 66% from the floor this year. She has shot 70% or better from the floor in five out of last six games.

A season ago, she earned All-Big Ten accolades, was named a semifinalist for the Lisa Leslie Center of the Year and was an Associated Press and Women’s Basketball Coaches Association All-America honorable mention. For the second time in her career, she was named to both of the preseason all-conference teams.

For the men, 2he Hawkeyes have had a student-athlete named to the Late Season Top 20 four straight years and five of the last eight seasons. Former Hawkeye, and twin brother, Keegan Murray was a finalist in 2022. Luka Garza was the recipient of the 2021 John R. Wooden Award and was a finalist in 2020. Jarrod Uthoff was a semifinalist in 2016.

The Hawkeye forward is also on the Oscar Robertson Midseason and Karl Malone Award watch lists.

Murray (6-foot-8, 220 pounds) is averaging a team-best 20.8 points and 8.6 rebounds per outing. He has increased his scoring average by 12.1 points per game this season compared to last year.

The Cedar Rapids, Iowa, native has scored 30+ points four times this season (30 vs. Indiana; 32 at Penn State; 31 vs. Georgia Tech; 30 vs. Omaha). Murray is one of 11 players nationally with four or more 30-point performances this season. He is one of four Hawkeyes to score 30+ at least four times in the Fran McCaffery era, joining Luka Garza (13), Keegan Murray (5), and Peter Jok (5).

He has scored 20+ points in 53 percent of games played this season (9-of-17).