Gonzaga’s Drew Timme, Chet Holmgren named to midseason Naismith list

A midseason Naismith Trophy watch list released Thursday morning included the names of two Gonzaga players.

GU’s Drew Timme and Chet Holmgren were among the 30 players named to the Midseason Team for the Naismith Player of the Year Trophy. Gonzaga is one of four schools with multiple players on the list, along with Duke, Auburn and Purdue.

Timme and Holmgren are two of the top three scorers in West Coast Conference play, averaging 36.5 points per game for the Bulldogs on a combined efficiency mark of 63% from the field. For the season, Timme’s averaging 17.6 ppg while Holmgren, with four 20-point efforts in his past five games, has bumped his scoring average to 14.7 ppg.

Holmgren, a freshman from Minnesota, is leading the conference with a field-goal percentage of 64.2% and is shooting an impressive 46.3% from 3-point range. Timme is third in the WCC with a field-goal clip of 60.4%.

In addition to his scoring totals, Holmgren is averaging 9.2 rebounds per game – good enough for second in the WCC behind USF’s Yauhen Massalski – and leads the conference with 3.5 blocks per game.

The full midseason Naismith list includes Duke’s Paolo Banchero and Wendell Moore Jr., Purdue’s Jaden Ivy and Zach Edey, Auburn’s Walker Kessler and Jabari Smith, Arizona’s Bennedict Mathurin, Villanova’s Collin Gillespie, Ohio State’s E.J. Liddell, Wisconsin’s Johnny Davis, UCLA’s Johnny Juzang, Iowa’s Keegan Murray, Illinois’ Kofi Cockburn, Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe, Indiana’s Trayce Jackson-Davis, Kansas’ Ochai Agbaji, Baylor’s James Akinjo, Wake Forest’s Alondes Williams, Colorado State’s David Roddy, USC’s Isaiah Mobley, Oral Roberts’ Max Abams, Marquette’s Justin Lewis, North Carolina’s Armando Bacot, SMU’s Kendric Davis, Fresno State’s Orlando Robinson, LSU’s Tari Eason, Iowa State’s Isziah Brockington and Louisiana Tech’s Kenneth Lofton Jr.