KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Four Kentucky basketball players were named to the National Basketball Coaches Association Court of Honor for the 2021-22 season, the organization announced Tuesday. Brennan Canada, CJ Fredrick, Davion Mintz and Zan Payne were the four UK winners.
Players must be juniors, seniors or seniors and have completed the 2021-22 season with a cumulative grade point average of 3.2 or higher.
The NABC Academic Awards include honorees from all levels of college basketball and more than 2,000 players earned spots on the NABC Honors Court.
Each of UK’s four receivers was also honored by the Southeastern Conference this season. Canada, Mintz and Payne were all named to the SEC Winter Academic Honor Roll, while Fredrick was among the members of the SEC First Year Academic Honor Roll.
Canada is a three-time SEC Academic Honor Roll honoree and is a communications major. He will graduate with his undergraduate degree in December. The Mount Sterling, Kentucky, native was also inducted into the Frank G. Ham Character Fellowship, the highest honor given to UK student-athletes, this spring. He has appeared in 15 games throughout his career after enjoying a standout high school career at George Rogers Clark.
Fredrick is a community development and leadership specialist. He spent the first three seasons of his career at Iowa. The 6-foot-3 guard missed his inaugural season with the Wildcats in 2021-22 after undergoing surgery in mid-November to repair a left hamstring injury. The Cincinnati native is expected to return in 2022-23 and will be among the nation’s leaders in career 3-point field goal percentage. Fredrick owns a 46.6% clip from behind the arc.
Mintz completed his master’s degree in kinesiology and health promotion with an emphasis in sports leadership from Kentucky in May and is a two-time SEC Academic Honor Roll selection. The Charlotte, NC, native was also a Sports Information Directors College of America All-District Team selection during his final season with the Wildcats. He appeared in 56 games for UK over two seasons and averaged 7.8 points per game while shooting 35.6% from 3-point range.
Payne graduated with a degree in communications in August 2021 and then completed an undergraduate certificate in business and economics in May. He is a four-time SEC Academic Honor Roll honoree. He appeared in 11 games for the Wildcats and scored 10 points. Before joining UK, Payne was a 1,000-point scorer and ranked among Lexington Catholic’s top 15 scorers in program history.
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