(Omaha, NE) -- Creighton center Ryan Kalkbrenner has been named a finalist for a pair of national awards.
Kalkbrenner is one of five finalists for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award, which is given to the nation's top center.
The 2023 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award finalists are Ryan Kalkbrenner (Creighton), Oscar Tshiebwe (Kentucky), Armando Bacot (North Carolina), Zach Edey (Purdue) and Adama Sanogo (Connecticut).
Earlier this week Kalkbrenner was named 2023 Big East Defensive Player of the Year for the second straight season, becoming just the 11th player in league history to win the recognition more than once. He was also recognized by Field of 68 as the National Defensive Player of the Year.
Kalkbrenner leads the Big East with 2.2 blocked shots per game, which ranks 18th nationally. The Florissant, Missouri native ranks second in CU history with 191 career blocked shots and anchors a Bluejay defense that led the league during conference play in scoring defense, scoring margin and field goal percentage defense. Kalkbrenner is also second on the team with 6.2 rebounds per game. Offensively, Kalkbrenner leads the nation in field goal percentage (.706). That figure ranks 12th-best in NCAA single-season history (min. 5 FG/game), while his career field goal percentage of 66.9 percent is fifth-best all-time among players with at least 400 career field goals who make four or more shots per game.
Kalkbrenner and No. 24 Creighton return to the court Friday night against No. 15 Xavier at 8 p.m. Central in semifinal round play of the Big East Tournament. The game will air on FS1.