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Gonzaga Basketball

Gonzaga’s Anton Watson named to final 10 for the Julius Erving Award

Gonzaga forward Anton Watson heads off the court after the Zags defeated LMU 92-58 on Tuesday. (By Anton Watson/The Spokesman-Review)
By Jim Meehan jimm@spokesman.com(509) 459-5585

Gonzaga’s Anton Watson is among 10 candidates for the Julius Erving Award, presented annually to college basketball’s top small forward.

Watson is averaging a career-best 14.5 points while shooting nearly 60% from the field and 40.6% on 3-pointers. He leads GU and ranks second in the West Coast Conference in rebounds (7.6) and paces the conference in steals (1.7).

Gonzaga is 121-16 in Watson’s 137 career games. He’s tied for seventh in school history with Drew Timme with 121 wins.

Watson scored a career-high 32 points in a November win over UCLA and matched that total in a loss to Santa Clara. The Gonzaga Prep grad also had 20 points against UConn.

Watson is shooting 75% (39 of 52) in GU’s past six games. He’s scored in double figures in 10 of the past 11 games.

The 6-foot-8 forward has 198 career steals, second behind John Stockton on the program’s all-time list.

Watson is joined on the Erving Award list by Jaylon Tyson (Cal), Harrison Ingram (North Carolina), Baylor Scheierman (Creighton), Jamison Battle (Ohio State), Tucker DeVries (Drake), Dalton Knecht (Tennessee), Keion Brooks Jr. (Washington), David Jones (Memphis) and Dillon Jones (Weber State).

Fans can participate in voting for the award beginning Friday at hoophallawards.com.

Former Gonzaga standouts Corey Kispert (2021) and Rui Hachimura (2019) are previous Erving Award winners. Kansas forward Jalen Wilson won the award last season.