Keenan Evans of the Texas Tech men’s basketball team is one of 20 players to be listed among the John R. Wooden Award Late Season Top 20 as announced Monday by the Los Angeles Athletic Club.

Chosen by a poll of national college basketball experts based on their performances during the first half of the 2017-18 season, the list comprises of 20 student-athletes who are currently the front-runners for the sport’s most prestigious honor and the John R. Wooden Award All America Team. Only one Texas Tech player, Andre Emmett in 2003-04, has secured Wooden Award All-American honors.

Evans is one of three players to be added to the list after not appearing on the Preseason Top 50 or the Midseason Top 25. He joins Ohio State’s Keita Bates-Diop and Purdue’s Carson Edwards.

Evans has averaged 18.6 points, 3.5 assists, 3.2 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game. The 18.6 points per game are second whereas the 3.5 assists per game are ninth in the Big 12 rankings.

Texas Tech has won eight of nine games this season and 14 of 18 games overall when Evans eclipses the 20-point mark. The senior guard has amassed 1,365 career points which is 20th on the program’s all-time scoring list. His 310 career assists currently stand 12th in program history.

Players not appearing on Late Season Top 20 list are still eligible for the National Ballot, which will be announced in early March and will consist of 15 players. Voting begins at the end of the season, and voters, consisting of 1,000 members of the national college basketball media, will take into account the opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament. 

The 42nd annual presentation of the John R. Wooden Award to the men’s most outstanding basketball player will be the anchor presentation of the ESPN College Basketball Awards presented by Wendy’s on ESPN2 on Friday, April 6, 2018. The men’s John R. Wooden Award All American Team will be honored during the ceremony and the 2018 Wooden Award Legends of Coaching Trophy will be presented to Villanova’s Jay Wright.

Created in 1976, the John R. Wooden Award is the most prestigious individual honor in college basketball. It is bestowed upon the nation’s best basketball player at an NCAA Division I university who has proven to his or her university that he or she is making progress towards graduation and maintaining a minimum cumulative 2.0 GPA.

COURTESY OF TEXAS TECH ATHLETICS