P.J. Washington Is Kentucky’s 39th Consensus All-American

Washington is the first Wildcat to earn All-America distinction by the NABC since Malik Monk was a second-team choice in 2017. The NABC is one of the four “major” NCAA-recognized All-America teams that the NCAA uses for its consensus All-America teams. The other three are the Associated Press, the Sporting News and the United States Basketball Writers Association. Washington has hauled in third-team honors by three of the four teams. The Sporting News and the USBWA are the other two that have been released.

The Dallas native, was joined on the NABC Third Team by Jarrett Culver (Texas Tech), Mike Daum (South Dakota State), Kyle Guy (Virginia) and Dedric Lawson (Kansas).

Washington is the 11th player under John Calipari to earn All-America honors by one of the four major organizations. He joins John Wall (2010), DeMarcus Cousins (2010), Anthony Davis (2012), Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (2012), Julius Randle (2014), Willie Cauley-Stein (2015), Karl-Anthony Towns (2015), Tyler Ulis (2016), Jamal Murray (2016) and Monk (2017) in earning All-America distinction by either the Sporting News, AP, USBWA or the NABC.

Washington is averaging 17.9 points, 7.2 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.4 blocks over his last 16 games played. He suffered a sprained left foot in the second half of the Southeastern Conference Tournament semifinals against Tennessee on March 16 and did not play in UK’s opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament.

During his most recent stretch, he was shooting 51.7 percent from the floor and 44.4 from 3-point range. That span also included three straight double-doubles vs. then-No. 9/10 Kansas, at Vanderbilt and at Florida.

Overall, Washington leads the Wildcats in both scoring (14.8 points per game) and rebounding (7.5 rpg). After mulling a decision to turn pro after last season, Washington is enjoying career highs in virtually every statistical category in his return for his sophomore season, including a team-high eight double-doubles.

For the season, Washington is shooting 51.5 percent from the floor and 41.9 percent from 3-point range. A year after hitting just five 3s in 37 games at a 23.8-percent rate, he’s drained 31 this season.