MANHATTAN – Senior guard Xavier Sneed has been named one of 20 watch list members for the 2020 Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award, as announced by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Wednesday.
Named after 16-year pro and four-time MVP Julius Erving, the 1994 Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame inductee, the annual award is in its sixth year and recognizes the top small forward in Division I men’s basketball. A national committee of top college basketball personnel determined the watch list of 20 candidates.
Sneed was one of two Big 12 players named to the watch list, including Texas Tech transfer Chris Clarke. Other candidates include Arizona’s Josh Green, Duke’s Matthew Hurt, Florida’s Scottie Lewis, Gonzaga’s Corey Kispert, Harvard’s Seth Towns, Kentucky’s Kahlil Whitney, Louisville’s Jordan Nwora, Memphis’ Precious Achiuwa, Oregon State’s Tres Tinkle, Providence’s Alpha Diallo, Purdue’s Nojel Eastern, St. John’s L.J. Figueroa, Syracuse’s Elijah Hughes, Vermont’s Anthony Lamb, Villanova’s Saddiq Bey, Washington’s Jaden McDaniels, Washington State’s C.J. Elleby and Xavier’s Naji Marshall.
Fans are encouraged to vote for Sneed throughout the season using the new Fan Voting presented by Dell Technologies, which goes live on Friday and will determine the 10 semifinalists, five finalists and eventual winner.
The 20-member watch list for the Erving Award will be narrowed to just 10 by mid-February. In March, five finalists will be presented to Julius Erving and the Hall of Fame’s selection committee. The winner will be presented at The College Basketball Awards presented by Wendy’s in Los Angeles on April 10, 2020.
Previous winners of the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award include Arizona’s Stanley Johnson (2015), Michigan State’s Denzel Valentine (2016), Villanova’s Josh Hart (2017) and Mikal Bridges (2018) and Gonzaga’s Rui Hachimura (2019).
A 6-foot-5, 215-pound three-year lettermen from St. Louis, Missouri, Sneed enters his senior season in 2019-20, ranking 29th on the school’s all-time scoring list with 1,008 points having seen action in 105 career games with 70 consecutive starts. He needs just 40 rebounds to eclipse 500 for his career and become just the 15th Wildcat with 1,000 points and 500 rebounds in a career. He also ranks fourth all-time in steals with 137 as well as in the career Top 10 for 3-point field goals made (157) and attempted (457) while connecting on 34.4 percent.
An All-Big 12 honorable mention selection, Sneed enjoyed a solid junior season in 2018-19, averaging 10.6 points on 39.6 percent shooting (118-of-298), including 34.6 percent (54-of-156) from 3-point range, with 5.5 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.4 steals in 30.7 minutes per game. He led the Wildcats in rebounds (182) and defensive rebounds (137), while he was second in 3-point field goals made (54) and attempted (156), rebounding (5.5 rpg.) and steals (45). He scored in double figures in 18 games, including a season-tying 19 points in the win at West Virginia.
Sneed is one of nine returning lettermen for a K-State team that has won 25 games in each of the last two seasons for the first time in school history. In addition to fellow senior Makol Mawien (7.0 ppg., 4.9 rpg.), the Wildcats also return rising juniors Cartier Diarra (6.8 ppg., 3.3 rpg.), Mike McGuirl (3.6 ppg., 1.5 rpg.) and Levi Stockard III (1.8 ppg., 1.5 rpg.) as well as a highly-regarded signing class that includes a trio of Top 200 high school players in DaJuan Gordon, Antonio Gordon and Montavious Murphy and NJCAA All-American David Sloan.
Season tickets for the 2019-20 season are currently on sale with a variety of pricing options available, including the Flex Season Ticket, Big Game and Pick 5 mini-plans as well as Wildcat 4 Packs and Bramlage Bundles. Fans can purchase tickets in a variety of ways, including toll free at (800) 221-CATS (2287), online at www.kstatesports.com/tickets and in-person at the Athletics Ticket Office located in Bramlage Coliseum.
The Erving Award is part of the “Naismith Starting 5,” which represents the five positional awards (Bob Cousy Point Guard Award, Jerry West Shooting Guard Award, Karl Malone Power Forward Award and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center Award) that serve as a tie between current game and the Naismith Hall of Fame.
For more information on the 2020 Julius Erving Award, log onto www.hoophallawards.com and follow @hoophall on Twitter and Instagram.