Gonzaga’s Corey Kispert, Washington State’s CJ Elleby on watch list for Julius Erving Award
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Gonzaga’s Corey Kispert and Washington State’s CJ Elleby are on the 20-player watch list for the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award.
Former Zag Rui Hachimura won the award last season.
Kispert, a 6-foot-7 junior from Edmonds, Washington, is Gonzaga’s top returning scorer at 8 points per game. He started 36 games last season, hit 61 3-pointers and made 87.5% of his free throw attempts.
Kispert made four 3s and scored 16 points in a second-round NCAA Tournament win over Baylor. He scored a season-high 17 points against North Dakota State add grabbed nine rebounds against Tennessee. He also received Academic All-WCC honors.
Elleby, a 6-6 sophomore, averaged 14.7 points and 7.1 boards last season. The Seattle native set a WSU freshman record with 471 points, breaking Steve Puidokas’ 45-year-old record. His 227 rebounds ranks second all-time for a Cougar freshman.
Elleby tested the NBA Draft waters before deciding to return for his sophomore season. He was recently named to the 10-player preseason All-Pac-12 first team.
The Erving watch list will be narrowed to 10 in mid February and five finalists in March. The winner will be honored April 10th at the College Basketball Awards show in Los Angeles.