Morrow Selected to Wooden Award Late-Season Watch List

By Press release submission

Feb 1, 2022

The latest accolade for Aneesah Morrow came courtesy of a live nationwide announcement Monday evening on ESPNU.

That's where it was revealed the Morrow is among the nation's top 20 players selected to the John R. Wooden Award late-season watch list recognizing the top women's basketball players in the country. There is also an identical award for men's basketball.

Morrow is a 6-foot, 1-inch power forward who has taken the NCAA women's basketball world by storm in her first season.

The three players highlighted at the beginning of the ESPNU show with comments from broadcaster and ex-Connecticut great Rebecca Lobo were South Carolina's Aliyah Boston, Iowa's Caitlin Clarke and the high-motor Blue Demon.

Morrow is the only player from the BIG EAST Conference on the Wooden watch list and the only freshman.

Hailed as the sport's most prestigious honor, the Wooden Award is sponsored by the Los Angeles Athletic Club and presented by Wendy's.

Three schools have multiple players on the list: Maryland (Ashley Owusu and Angel Reese), South Carolina (Aliyah Boston and Destanni Henderson) and Stanford (Cameron Brink and Haley Jones).

The Big Ten and SEC leads all conferences with five selections on the Wooden Award Late Season Top 20 each, followed by the Big 12 and Pac-12 with three each, the ACC with two selections, and the ASUN and Big East with one selection each.

Morrow came into the week leading the nation with 13.4 rebounds per game and is also tops in total rebounds (309), offensive rebounds per game (5.7) and double-doubles (18 in 23 games). The former Simeon All-Stater is second in the country in total points and field goals.

She had 22 points and 27 rebounds in an 85-65 victory at Seton Hall on Sunday. The 27 rebounds broke the BIG EAST single-game freshman record (20) and the league's all-time record (25).

It also set an NCAA season high surpassing the previous mark of 23.

Earlier on Monday, Morrow became the first player in BIG EAST history to sweep Player of the Week and Freshman of the Week three times in a season. Her 10th consecutive Freshman award ties her with UConn legend Maya Moore and Villanova junior Maddy Siegrist for the most in a season.

Averaging 20.9 points and 13.4 rebounds on the season, Morrow has recently cranked it up a notch. The rambunctious rookie has 139 points and 89 rebounds in her last five games---an average of 27.8 points and 17.8 rebounds.

Included in that span was the 80-78 loss to No. 10/9 UConn featuring 6-5 Olivia Nelson-Ododa, 6-5 Dorka Juhasz, 6-3 Aaliyah Edwards and 6-5 Piath Gabriel.

In that game, Morrow became only the fourth opponent to finish with 30 points and double digit rebounds in UConn's legendary history. The other three---Tennessee's Candace Parker, Louisville's Angel McCoughtry and Notre Dame's Jackie Young---were all the first player selected in the WNBA Draft.

In her Monday column, ESPN's Michelle Voepel hailed Morrow as her Player of the Week after going for 30 points and 14 rebounds against UConn, 22 points and 18 boards against St. John's and 22 points and 27 rebounds at Seton Hall.

The players on the Wooden list are considered strong candidates for the 2022 John R. Wooden Award Women's Player of the Year presented by Wendy's. Players not chosen to the late season list are still eligible for the Wooden Award™ National Ballot.

The National Ballot consists of 15 top players who have proven to their universities that they meet or exceed the qualifications of the Wooden Award. Nearly 1,000 voters will rank in order 10 of those 15 players when voting opens prior to the NCAA tournament and will allow voters to take into consideration performance during early round games.

The Wooden Award All-American Team™ will be announced the week of the NCAA Elite Eight. The winner of the 2022 John R. Wooden Award will be presented by Wendy's following the NCAA tournament in April.

John Wooden Award Late Season Top 20

Shakira Austin, Mississippi

Kierstan Bell, Florida Gulf Coast

Aliyah Boston, South Carolina*

Cameron Brink, Stanford

Caitlin Clark, Iowa

Elissa Cunane, NC State

Destanni Henderson, South Carolina

Naz Hillmon, Michigan

Mackenzie Holmes, Indiana

Jordan Horston, Tennessee

Rhyne Howard, Kentucky*