ORLANDO – For a conference record seventh time, UCF men's basketball freshman Taylor Hendricks has been named the American Athletic Conference Rookie of the Week. Darius Johnson was also recognized by the conference, landing on this week's honor roll.
Hendricks shone bright all week, netting 23 points on the road at Wichita State, tying a career-high he set back on opening night. He pulled down five rebounds along with adding two steals and a block in the 72-67 win over the Shockers. Hendricks followed up the performance at Wichita State with 18 points against Tulsa on 8-of-12 shooting.
No other rookie in the history of The American has been named Rookie of the Week seven times in a season. Hendricks earned four straight Rookie of the Week honors, also a conference record, from Nov. 21-Dec. 12. He earned another two on Jan. 2 and Jan. 16. Four American student-athletes have six freshman weekly honors, including Dedric Lawson (2015-16), Precious Achiuwa (2019-20) and Jalen Duren (2021-22) of Memphis and Houston's Jarace Walker, who has six awards this season.
Hendricks is tied for the conference lead in blocked shots, totaling 42 rejections which averages out to 1.75 per game. He is sixth in the conference in offensive rebounds, grabbing 2.5 per contest.
Johnson lands on this week's honor roll after tallying 14 assists and zero turnovers through the past two games. He tallied 12 points and seven steals against Wichita State before recording 13 points and 10 assists against Tulsa. The seven steals were the most by any Knight in the last 10 years.
UP NEXT
The Knights (15-9, 6-6) next play at Memphis Thursday (8 p.m. ET on ESPN+).
UCF is 10-4 this season at Addition Financial Arena —with home dates remaining versus Cincinnati (Feb. 19), South Florida (Feb. 22) and East Carolina (Mar. 5).
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