Tyler Ulis and Jamal Murray earn USBWA honors; Murray also honored by SEC

The awards and honors keep piling up for the Kentucky Wildcats, and deservedly so for Tyler Ulis and Jamal Murray.

Ulis has been playing at another level this season and could be argued as the best point guard inc college basketball. Murray has quietly been scoring at a historic rate that has him on pace to break UK's freshman scoring record.

So it shouldn't come as a surprise that both Ulis and Murray were named to midseason watch lists for USBWA awards. Ulis is one of 20 midseason players on the watch list for the Oscar Robertson Trophy, given annually to the men’s national player of the year. He’s one of only two players from the SEC to make the cut.

Murray is one of 10 on the midseason watch list for the Wayman Tisdale Award, which goes to the top freshman in the game. He was also just named the SEC Freshman of the Week for his performances last week, which helped UK win at Arkansas and at home vs Vanderbilt.

Ulis is averaging 15.3 points while dishing out 6.0 assists per game, ranked second in the SEC. He just recently surpassed 100 assists through 17 games played, becoming the sixth-fastest player in program history to reach the season mark.

With yet another 20-point performance Saturday vs Vandy, Ulis has scored 20 or more points in six out of his last eight games. Overall, he has seven games with 20 or more points and five or more assists in the same game, tied for the most in school history since 1972-73.

As for Murray, he's scored in double figures in all but one game and in 17 straight contests. Only Brandon Knight (28 straight games) has posted a better consecutive double-digit scoring streak during the Calipari era. Murray has also hit a 3-pointer in every game this season, the first player in school history to make a trey in the first 19 games to start a college career.

Last week, Murray averaged 18.5 points and seven assists in wins at Arkansas and over Vanderbilt. Murray poured in 19 points and added seven rebounds in the win at Arkansas. He also contributed a block and a steal in the win.

Murray followed up that performance less than 48 hours later with 18 points, including three 3-pointers, while adding seven more rebounds, three steals and another block in a victory over Vanderbilt.