Cal’s Jaylon Tyson, who leads the Pac-12 in scoring, was named one of 10 candidates for the Julius Erving Award, which goes to the nation’s top small forward.
Tyson is averaging 20.6 points and 7.2 rebounds while shooting 48.8% from the field and 36.7% on three-pointers. He has scored 20 points or more in seven of Cal’s last nine games. Tyson had to leave Cal’s game against Stanford on Friday due to a leg injury, but he is likely to play in the Bears’ road game on Thursday against No. 11 Arizona.
Tyson is one of two Pac-12 players who are Erving Award candidates, the other being Washington’s Keion Brooks Jr., who is second in the Pac-12 in scoring, although both are listed with a 20.6 scoring average. Tyson more accurately is averaging 20.6316 points per game and Brooks is at 20.5714 points per contest.
One other Erving finalist – North Carolina’s Harrison Ingram – played in the Pac-12 last season when he was a member of Stanford’s squad.
Here are the 10 Julius Erving Award candidates:
Jaylon Tyson (Cal), 20.6 points, 7.2 rebounds
Keion Brooks, Jr. (Washington), 20.6 points, 7.0 rebounds
Baylor Scheierman (Creighton), 17.8 points, 8.1 rebounds
Tucker DeVries (Drake), 20.5 points, 6.4 rebounds
Anton Watson (Gonzaga), 14.5 points, 7.6 rebounds
David Jones (Memphis), 21.8 points, 7.0 rebounds
Harrison Ingram (North Carolina), 12.1 points, 8.8 rebounds
Jamison Battle (Ohio State), 14.1 points, 5.4 rebounds
Dalton Knecht (Tennessee), 20.1 points, 4.6 rebounds
Dillon Jones (Weber State), 19.3 points, 9.9 rebounds
Players may be added or removed from the list over the course of the season and the list will be reduced to five finalists in March.
Fan voting will be part of the process to determine a winner. Fan voting begins Friday and can be done at the Hoop Hall Awards website. The fans' votes will count as one committee member. The committee is composed of top men’s college basketball personnel, including media members, head coaches, sports information directors, and Hall of Famers.
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