Jan. 30, 2015
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Pat Connaughton, who has helped the University of Notre Dame men’s basketball team to its best start since the 1973-74 campaign, has been named one of 30 candidates for the 2014-15 Senior CLASS Award for men’s basketball.
To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition.
An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.
The 30 candidates will be narrowed to 10 finalists later this season, and those student-athletes will be placed on the final official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select the individual who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of community, classroom, character and competition.
The winner of the Senior CLASS award will be announced during the 2015 NCAA Men’s Final Four® in Indianapolis, Indiana in April.
Connaughton, a two-time captain for the Irish, is one of 22 players in the 110-year history of the program to serve as a captain in multiple seasons. He and his Irish teammates are off to a 20-2 start, have posted an 8-1 mark in Atlantic Coast Conference play and are ranked eighth nationally in both the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches polls.
The 6-5, 228-pound forward is Notre Dame’s second-leading scorer (13.8 ppg.) and leading rebounder (8.5 rpg.), both of which are career bests. The Arlington, Massachusetts has played in all 123 games during his career in an Irish uniform and has started 107 of those contests. In fact, Connaughton has started 104 consecutive games and is the third player in Notre Dame history to start at least 100 straight games. He has scored 1,294 points (10.5 ppg.) and grabbed 728 rebounds (5.9 rpg.) during his career.
Connaughton has reached double figures in 19 contests this season and 67 times during his career, and his current 11-game double-figure scoring streak, is the best of his career. He leads the team in 2014-15 with seven double-doubles and has 14 for his career. Connaughton has grabbed 10-plus rebounds in eight contests and 18 times in his career. He is one of 11 players in Notre Dame history with 1,000 points and 700 rebounds.
A member of the ACC Academic Honor Roll in 2014, Connaughton will graduate in May with a degree in management consulting from Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business.
A two-sport athlete at Notre Dame, he was the starting pitcher for the Irish basketball team for three seasons. Connaughton was drafted in the fourth round (121st pick overall) in the 2014 Major League Draft. Despite pitching for six weeks during the summer for the Aberdeen Ironbirds, Connaughton was committed to returning for his senior year to play basketball.
He has been involved in several community service efforts throughout his time at Notre Dame. Back in his hometown of Arlington, he continues to volunteer at Fidelity House, a center youths (kindergarten through eighth grade) and serves as a volunteer coach for their athletic teams. He also is a volunteer for the AE (Athletic Evolution) Helping The Community initiative that helps provide fitness training for the youths in the Woburn, Massachusetts area.
In addition to Connaughton, the other 29 candidates for the award include: Alex Barlow (Purdue), Reece Chamberlain (Belmont), Michael Cobbins (Oklahoma State), Justin Grant (Indiana State), Seth Gearhart (Rice), Jordan Green (Texas A&M), Ryann Green (Georgia State), D’Angelo Harrison (St. John’s), Tyler Haws (Brigham Young), Frank Kaminsky (Wisconsin), Ashton Moore (The Citadel), Khufu Najee (IUPUI), D.J. Newhill (Penn State), Kevin Pangos (Gonzaga), Corey Petros (Oakland), Ishaq Pitt (Maryland-Eastern Shore), Normal Powell (UCLA), Chasson Randle (Stanford), Levi Randolph (Alabama), Josh Richardson (Tennessee), Luke Roh (Colgate), Corey Schaefer (Lehigh), John Schoof (American), Matt Stainbrook (Xavier), Juwan Staten (West Virginia), Matt Townsend (Yale), Thomas van der Mars (Portland), Cameron Wright (Pittsburgh) and Max Yon (Air Force).
Single game tickets are available at the Murnane Family Ticket Center. For more information, call 574-631-7356 or visit www.UND.com/BuyTickets.
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