SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – UCLA freshman Moses Brown has been selected as one of 10 finalists for this season's Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award, as announced Friday by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
 
Named after Hall of Famer and three-time NCAA Champion Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who starred for the Bruins from 1967-69, this annual honor is in its fifth year and recognizes the top centers in men's college basketball. A national committee comprised of top college basketball personnel determined the watch list of 20 candidates in October before narrowing the list this week.
 
Brown, a 7-foot-1 center from Queens, N.Y., has averaged 11.4 points, 8.7 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game, having started all 23 contests for the Bruins. Brown is just three blocked shots away from moving into UCLA's single-season top-10 list.
 
A McDonald's All-American at Archbishop Molloy High School in New York, N.Y., last season, Brown currently ranks second among all Pac-12 players in field goal percentage (65.2%) and ranks fourth in the league in rebounding (8.7 rpg). He has registered seven double-doubles in 23 games, including a season-high 23 points in a win over Saint Francis U back on Nov. 16, 2018.
 
The nine other finalists for this season's award include Charles Bassey (Western Kentucky), Nico Carvacho (Colorado State), Bruno Fernando (Maryland), Daniel Gafford (Arkansas), Jessie Govan (Georgetown), Ethan Happ (Wisconsin), Nathan Knight (William & Mary), Nick Perkins (Buffalo) and Nick Ward (Michigan State).
 
This marks the third straight season in which UCLA has had a center among the top 10 finalists for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award. In 2017 and 2018, Thomas Welsh was listed among the award's top 10 finalists (Welsh was one of five final candidates last season).
 
The award list will narrow to five finalists in mid-March. The winner of this season's award will be presented at the ESPN College Basketball Awards Show, live from The Novo by Microsoft in Los Angeles on Friday, April 12.