University of Houston junior guard Quentin Grimes recently was named to the Lute Olson Award Mid-Season Watch for his impressive play during the 2020-21 season.
This year, Grimes leads the Cougars and ranks second in the American Athletic Conference with 17.6 points per game and stands eighth in the league with 6.7 rebounds per contest.
He is one of only two student-athletes to rank among The American's Top-8 leaders in both scoring and rebounding.
In 2020-21, Grimes has been a leader for the Cougars, who have posted a 13-1 overall record and lead the American Athletic Conference with an 8-1 mark. Houston has risen as high as No. 5 in both national polls, the Cougars' highest ranking since the 1983-84 season.
Grimes has posted five 20-point games, including a season-high 27 points with 10 rebounds in a win over Alcorn State, and was named The American Player of the Week after averaging 16.5 points and 8.0 rebounds per game in wins over Tulsa and at Temple.
The Lute Olson Award is presented annually to the nation's top NCAA Division I student-athlete. The recipient of the 2020-21 Award will be announced in April.
Grimes was joined on the Watch List by Scottie Barnes (Florida State), Charles Bassey (WKU), James Bouknight (UConn), Jared Butler (Baylor), Marcus Carr (Minnesota), Justin Champagnie (Pittsburgh), Kofi Cockburn (Illinois), Loren Cristian Jackson (Akron), Jalen Crutcher (Dayton), Derek Culver (West Virginia), Cade Cunningham (Oklahoma State), Kendric Davis (SMU), Ayo Dosunmu (Illinois), John Fulkerson (Tennessee), Luka Garza (Iowa), Collin Gillespie (Villanova), Jordan Goodwin (Saint Louis), Ron Harper Jr. (Rutgers), Sam Hauser (Virginia), Matthew Hurt (Duke), Trayce Jackson-Davis (Indiana), Carlik Jones (Louisville), Taevion Kinsey (Marshall), Corey Kispert (Gonzaga), Cameron Krutwig (Loyola (Ill.)), Remy Martin (Arizona State), Evan Mobley (USC), Nick Muszynski (Belmont), Roman Penn (Drake), Jeremiah Robinson-Earl (Villanova), Jalen Suggs (Gonzaga), Terry Taylor (Austin Peay), Drew Timme (Gonzaga) and Marcus Zegarowski (Creighton).
ABOUT LUTE OLSON
The award is named in honor of Hall of Fame coach Lute Olson, who won 776 games in 34 seasons, 24 of which were spent at the University of Arizona. During that stretch he led the Wildcats to 11 Pac-10 Conference titles, 23 consecutive NCAA Tournaments, four Final Four appearances and a National Championship in 1997.
Olson is one of just 25 head coaches in NCAA history to win 700 or more games (all divisions) and ranks ninth on the Division I career victories list. He finished with a winning percentage of .731 and is the all-time winningest coach in Arizona history with 587-190 record (.755). He was named Pac-10 Coach of the Year seven times. Olson also guided Arizona to 20 consecutive 20-win seasons and is one of only three coaches in NCAA history to record 29 or more 20-win seasons.
UP NEXT
• Grimes and his Houston teammates meet Tulane at 8 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 28, inside Fogelman Arena in Devlin Fieldhouse in New Orleans.
