- JERRY WEST AWARD WATCH LIST
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (10/15/2019) — It was an award-winning Tuesday afternoon for University of Detroit Mercy star sophomore guard Antoine Davis (Birmingham, Ala.) and he was named to the 20-man Jerry West Shooting Guard Watch List by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
The award is named after Class of 1980 Hall of Famer and 1959 NCAA Final Four Most Valuable Player Jerry West, the annual honor in its sixth year recognizes the top shooting guards in Division I men’s college basketball. A national committee of top college basketball personnel determined the watch list of 20 candidates.
Davis – who earlier today was named the Preseason Horizon League Player of the Year – is the first Titan to ever appear on the national accolade watch list after he put together a historic freshman campaign. As a rookie, he was the HL Freshman of the Year and a finalist for the USBWA Wayman Tisdale Award for National Freshman Player of the Year along with Duke’s RJ Barrett and Zion Williamson and North Carolina’s Coby White – all of whom were top seven draft picks in the 2019 NBA draft.
A freshman All-American, Davis ended his freshman season leading the Horizon League in scoring at 26.1 points per game, third in the nation, and tallied 784 points, which was a Titan and Horizon League freshman record and just one point off the school record for points in a season.
He was also top 10 in the country in 3-pointers per game (4.40-second), total 3-pointers (132-third), field goals (263-seventh) and total points (784-seventh) and broke the NCAA freshman record of 122 by Stephen Curry at Davidson in 2006-07 by nailing 132 triples on the year, the second-most in school history and fifth-most in the Horizon League record book.
“The Hall of Fame is proud to create connections between modern-day athletes and fans with the iconic figures in our game, such as Jerry West,” said John L. Doleva, President and CEO of the Basketball Hall of Fame. “It is an honor to have his continued involvement in the Starting Five and we look forward integrating the fan voting component and we narrow the watch list this season.”
Jerry West attended West Virginia University and averaged 24.8 points and 13.3 rebounds per game in his three varsity seasons. He led his team to the NCAA Championship game in 1959 and was named a consensus All-American in 1959 and 1960. In the summer of 1960, he was co-captain of the U.S. men’s basketball team and won an Olympic gold medal. As a professional player, West played 14 seasons in the NBA with the Lakers making the All-NBA First Team 10 times. West won an NBA championship in 1972 and was named the NBA Finals MVP in 1969 despite his team not winning the championship. In 1996, he was named a member of the NBA’s 50th Anniversary All-Time Team.
New to the award this season is Fan Voting presented by Dell Technologies in each of the three rounds. By mid-February, the watch list of 20 players for the 2020 Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award will be narrowed to just 10. In March, five finalists will be presented to Mr. West and the Hall of Fame’s selection committee. The winner of the 2020 Jerry West Award will be presented at The College Basketball Awards presented by Wendy’s in Los Angeles, California, on Friday, April 10, 2020, along with the other four members of the Men’s Starting Five.
Previous winners of the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award include RJ Barrett, Duke (2019), Carsen Edwards, Purdue (2018), Malik Monk, Kentucky (2017), Buddy Hield, Oklahoma (2016) and D’Angelo Russell, Ohio State (2015).
For more information on the 2020 Jerry West Award and the latest updates, log onto www.hoophallawards.com and follow @hoophall on Twitter and Instagram. Starting Five Fan Voting presented by Dell Technologies will go live on Friday, October 18.
2020 Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award Candidates
Antoine Davis, Detroit Mercy
Isaiah Joe, Arkansas
Kamar Baldwin, Butler
Jarron Cumberland, Cincinnati
Ty-Shon Alexander, Creighton
Kellan Grady, Davidson
Anthony Edwards, Georgia
Trent Frazier, Illinois
Joe Wieskamp, Iowa
Tyrese Maxey, Kentucky
Skylar Mays, LSU
Joshua Langford, Michigan State
Temple ‘T.J.’ Gibbs, Notre Dame
Breein Tyree, Ole Miss
Myles Powell, Seton Hall
A.J. Lawson, South Carolina
Mustapha Heron, St. John’s
Desmond Bane, TCU
Jordan Bowden, Tennessee
Sam Merrill, Utah State
About the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
Located in Springfield, Massachusetts, the city where basketball was born, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an independent non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to promoting, preserving and celebrating the game of basketball at every level – men and women, amateur and professional players, coaches and contributors, both domestically and internationally. The Hall of Fame museum is home to more than 400 inductees and over 40,000 square feet of basketball history. Nearly 200,000 people visit the Hall of Fame museum each year to learn about the game, experience the interactive exhibits and test their skills on the Jerry Colangelo “Court of Dreams.” Best known for its annual marquee Enshrinement Ceremony honoring the game’s elite, the Hall of Fame also operates over 70 high school and collegiate competitions annually throughout the country and abroad. For more information on the Basketball Hall of Fame organization, its museum and events, visit www.hoophall.com, follow @hoophall and #WestAward or call 1-877-4HOOPLA.
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Detroit Mercy served as the host institution for the NCAA Men’s Basketball 2008 Regional and 2009 NCAA Final Four held at Ford Field and the 2018 NCAA Men’s Basketball First & Second Rounds at the brand new Little Caesars Arena.
