Gonzaga forward Anton Watson named to Julius Erving Award preseason watch list

October 25th—Anton Watson from Gonzaga University has been named one of the 20 players on the preseason watch list for the prestigious Julius Erving Award. This annual award recognizes the top small forward in college basketball.

Watson, a graduate student, had an outstanding season as a Zag. He achieved a career-high average of 11.1 points overall and 12.9 points in West Coast Conference games. Watson’s performance earned him an honorable mention All-WCC.

Impressively, Watson boasted a remarkable 60.8% field goal success rate. In WCC games, his accuracy soared to the top of the conference with an impressive 64.8%. He also contributed to the team’s success with 66 steals, ranking him second in the WCC and fourth on Gonzaga’s single-season list. Watson has played in 116 career games, with Gonzaga winning 105 of those.

At 6 feet 8 inches tall and weighing 229 pounds, Watson stands alongside his teammate, Ryan Nembhard, who is in the running for the Bob Cousy Award for the top point guard. The basketball community eagerly awaits the announcement of the Karl Malone (top power forward) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (top center) award watch lists later this week.

Former Zags alumni Corey Kispert (2021) and Rui Hachimura (2019) have previously been honored as winners of the Erving Award.

Gonzaga will face fierce competition, including Kentucky’s Justin Edwards, who is also on the Erving watch list. Depending on the results of the Maui Invitational, GU may go up against Johnny Furphy (Kansas), David Joplin (Marquette), or Dalton Knecht (Tennessee).

The other players on the watch list consist of Jalen Bridges from Baylor, Jaylon Tyson from California, Baylor Scheierman from Creighton, Tucker DeVries from Drake, Mark Mitchell from Duke, Payton Sandfort from Iowa, Arthur Kaluma from Kansas State, Matthew Cleveland from Miami (Florida), Coen Carr from Michigan State, Harrison Ingram from North Carolina, Jamison Battle from Ohio State, Glenn Taylor Jr. from St. John’s, Tyler Burton from Villanova, Tyler Wahl from Wisconsin, and Dillon Jones from Weber State.

Players have the opportunity to play their way onto or off the watch list throughout the season. Fans will also have a say in the final decision by casting their votes on hoophallawards.com starting Friday.