Oklahoma basketball: Brady Manek on Karl Malone Award watch
By Chip Rouse
Oklahoma basketball four-year starter Brady Manek has been named to the 2020-21 watch list for the Karl Malone Power Forward Award.
The Sooner senior forward from nearby Harrah, Oklahoma, is one of 20 players nationwide who are preseason candidates for the award. The award, which began in 2014, is named after 14-time NBA All-Star Karl Malone, who played his entire 19-year career with the Utah Jazz and is widely considered the greatest NBA power forward of all-time.
Manek has started 91 of the Sooners’ last 97 games and has a career averages of 12.2 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game. He averaged 14.4 points last season, including a team-high 71 made three-pointers and three-point percentage of 38 percent.
His high scoring game a year ago was a 33-point performance, along with nine rebounds, in an 83-63 home win over TCU.
Manek is the only player in Oklahoma history to record 1,000 career points, 500 rebounds, 150 three-pointers and 75 blocked shots. His 1,188 career points through three seasons ranks 31 on the Oklahoma men’s career list, and his 187 three-pointers stands seventh on the Sooner career leaderboard.
This is the second season that Manek has been named a preseason candidate for the Karl Malone Award. He is the second Oklahoma player to earn preseason national award considerations. Senior guard Austin Reeves was named to the 2020-21 Preseason All-Big 12 Team.
Manek is one of four players out of the Big 12 who has been named to the 2020-21 Karl Malone Award watch list. He joins Mark Vital of Baylor, Greg Brown of Texas and West Virginia’s Oscar Tshiebwe.
Last year’s Karl Malone Award winner was Obi Toppin of Dayton. Zion Williamson of Duke won the award in 2018-19.