Hartford Courant

Sophomore Hawkins a Top 10 candidate for Jerry West Award

- By Joe Arruda

Jordan Hawkins has elevated his production onto another level lately and was recognized as a Top 10 candidate for the Jerry West Award on Tuesday.

The award, in its ninth year, is given annually to the top shooting guard in the nation.

Hawkins is averaging 16.3 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game while shooting 41.5% from the field and 39.4% from beyond the arc this season. In the last six games, since he met his idol Ray Allen, Hawkins has developed into the Huskies’ most prolific scorer, averaging 21.3 points and 4.7 rebounds per game and shooting 48.7% from the field, 40.9% from 3-point range and 91.9% from the free throw line during that stretch.

In Big East competitio­n,

Hawkins leads the conference in scoring with 17.5 points per game.

Fan voting is involved in the later rounds of the selection process for the Jerry West Award and will count as one committee vote in

the final stage. The fan vote will open on the Hoophall awards website beginning Friday, Feb. 10.

The list will be narrowed down to five finalists, who will be presented to the Hall of Famer West and the

Naismith Hall of Fame’s selection committee.

The winner will be chosen on a date yet to be determined and announced along with the winners of the four other major positional awards: Bob Cousy Award (Point Guard), Julius Erving Award (Small Forward), Karl Malone Award (Power Forward) and the Kareem Abdul-jabbar Award (Center), in addition to the Women’s Starting Five.

Here is the complete Top 10 list:

Jordan Hawkins, Uconn Adam Flagler, Baylor Taevion Kinsey, Marshall Keyonte George, Baylor Isaiah Wong, Miami (Fla.) Marcus Sasser, Houston Terquavion Smith, NC State

Terrence Shannon Jr., Illinois

Santiago Vescovi, Tennessee

Gradey Dick, Kansas

 ?? NICK WASS/AP ?? Connecticu­t guard Jordan Hawkins in action during the first half of Saturday’s game against Georgetown in Washington.
NICK WASS/AP Connecticu­t guard Jordan Hawkins in action during the first half of Saturday’s game against Georgetown in Washington.

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