A number of Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball players have been honored with various Southeastern Conference and national awards.
Forty-three former Kentucky men's basketball players, coaches, and contributors are honored in Rupp Arena with banners representing their numbers hung from the rafters. With the streamlining of jersey numbers by the NCAA, the jerseys are retired but the numbers remain active. To have a banner hung, the athlete must be elected to the UK Athletics Hall of Fame.
The UK players listed here received at least one NCAA-recognized national player of the year award.
The Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award has been presented by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame since 2015 to the top Division I center.
The following is a list of Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball players that were named First or Second Team All-Americans:
The Wayman Tisdale Award, known before the 2010âÂÂ11 season as the USBWA National Freshman of the Year Award, has been presented by the United States Basketball Writers Association since 1989 to the top freshman in Division I men's basketball.
The National Association of Basketball Coaches, the trade organization for college men's basketball coaches, has presented its own Freshman of the Year award since the 2016âÂÂ17 season.
The following is a list of Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball players who have been named SEC Player of the Year:
The following is a list of Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball players who have been named either SEC Freshman of the Year (awarded by the league's head coaches, and open only to freshmen) or SEC Newcomer of the Year (awarded by the AP and open to any player in his first year at an SEC school, including transfers).
All listed players won both awards except for the following:
One of the NCAA's main student-athlete awards is the Elite 90 Award (previously the Elite 88 and Elite 89), presented at the site of each of the NCAA's 90 annual championship finals. In Division I men's basketball, eligible individuals are those on the playing squads of all Final Four participants who have played at least two seasons at their current school. The recipient is the eligible player with the highest grade point average, with completed credit hours as a tiebreaker if needed.
The following is a list of Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball players who have been named McDonald's All-Americans during their prep careers:
The following Kentucky players, coaches, and contributors have been enshrined as individuals in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
In addition to these, Adrian Smith was a member of the 1960 US Olympic team that was inducted as a unit in 2010, and Tayshaun Prince was a member of the 2008 US Olympic team that was inducted as a unit in 2025.
The following Kentucky players and coaches have represented their country in basketball in the Summer Olympic Games: