Kentucky men’s basketball freshman guard Rob Dillingham has been selected as the Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Week, it was announced on Monday. Dillingham, a 6-foot-3 guard from Hickory, North Carolina, averaged 27.5 points, four assists and 2.5 rebounds last week in the Wildcats’ games vs. Florida and Tennessee.
After registering 20 points, four assists and four rebounds against the Gators, Dillingham scored a career-high 35 points against the Volunteers on Saturday, the fourth-most points scored by a Kentucky freshman in the John Calipari era. The performance included a 14-of-20 (.700) night from the field and a 6-of-8 (.750) night from 3-point range, setting new career bests in both made field goals and 3s made.
Dillingham became just the third player to score 35 points against UT in the Rick Barnes era joining Mason Jones and Domantas Sabonis. He has risen to the occasion in Kentucky’s biggest games this year, averaging 20.5 points, and shooting 61.9 percent from 3-point range in the Cats’ four games against Associated Press Top 25 ranked teams.
The freshman has scored in doubles figures 17 times this season, including four outings of at least 20 points. He ranks second on the team in scoring at 15.3 points per game, while also dishing out 77 assists and totaling 26 steals.
Dillingham becomes the fourth different UK freshman to receive SEC Freshman of the Week honors this season joining D.J. Wagner (three times), Reed Sheppard (twice) and Aaron Bradshaw as other honorees. The Wildcats have now won the award seven of 13 weeks this season.
Kentucky returns to action at Vanderbilt on Tuesday. The game will air on SEC Network and tip at 8:30 p.m. ET.
Walter Cornett, of Glendale, Kentucky, is the owner and operator of Walter’s Wildcat World. He founded WildcatWorld.com in 1998 making it one of the oldest Kentucky basketball fan sites in operation today.