Arizona's Channing Frye Receives High Honor

Arizona basketball has turned itself into a national brand and has had sustained success dating back to when legendary head coach Lute Olson had his first winning season in his second-year at the helm going 21-10 during the 1984-85 season.

Three years later, Olson and the Wildcats made the first Final Four in program history during the 1987-88 season going an incredible 35-3 and dominating the competition. After that, the rest is history as the program established itself as a national power.

However, even before the first Final Four and coach Olson, Arizona had a period of success that could be looked at as the blueprint that helped build the powerhouse fans know today. That all started during the Fred Snowden era when Tucson first fell in love with the game of basketball.

Recently, Arizona has been announcing former student athletes that the athletic department will be inducting into the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame and UA basketball star big man Channing Frye will be going in after an illustrious college career and successful NBA career.

The last great Olson team before his retirement was the 2004-05 WIldcats that lost to Illinois in the Elite Eight. The team was well balanced and featured three of the Top 10 points leaders in program history. One of those players was also a highly skilled big man in Frye.

Not only does Frye sit at No. 9 all-time in points with his 1,789 career total, he is No. 2 all-time in blocked shots at 258 swats. 

That’s 20 fewer from the all-time record held by Cook, who started in 123 games compared to Frye’s 119 career starts.

Frye was a complete player, who also finished third in rebound with 975 for his career at Arizona.

After his playing career at Arizona, Frye went on to have a 13-year NBA career after getting drafted No. 8 overall pick by the New York Knicks.

For his career, Frye scored 7,786 points while averaging 4 ½ rebounds and an assist where he shot 44% from the field and 38% from the 3-point line.

In college, Olson wouldn’t let Frye shoot the 3-point shot and never really showed off his shooting skills. However, he became one of the better 3-point shooting big men in the NBA, which led him to his long career.