KU hoops well represented at Rock Chalk Choice Awards

By Matt Tait     Sep 12, 2016

The Kansas men’s basketball team, as one might expect, received plenty of love Sunday night at the annual Rock Chalk Choice Awards at the Lied Center.

In addition to celebrating the academic and athletic achievements of the past year, along with highlighting some of the top individual plays and team moments — the volleyball team’s victory over USC in the Elite Eight in San Diego won “Moment of the Year” — several athletes received a variety of honors as well.

This year’s celebration featured a “So We Think We Can Dance” theme and mixed highlights, moments of comedy, performances from the Rock Chalk Dancers and other memorable moments into the presentation of various awards.

Two of the individual awards came from the men’s basketball team. Here’s a look:

**• Guard Devonte’ Graham picked up the first award of the night, The Jayhawker Award,** given annually to honor the pioneers who held true to their values throughout hardship while founding the state of Kansas.

**• Perry Ellis, a model student-athlete on and off the court, won Male Athlete of the Year** honors and current KU guard Tyler Self accepted the award on Ellis’ behalf. Ellis, who led the Jayhawks in scoring and also helped lead the team to its 12th consecutive Big 12 title, was one of five male athletes nominated for the honor.

The event has been billed an Academy Awards-esque celebration of the seasons that were in Kansas Athletics and the evening inspires several athletes to come dressed to the nines as if they truly were hitting the red carpet in Hollywood.

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.