SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Kansas freshman Gradey Dick has been named to the 2023 Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award Top 10, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced Tuesday.
Named after Class of 1980 Hall of Famer and 1959 NCAA Final Four Most Valuable Player Jerry West, the annual honor is in its ninth year recognizing the top shooting guards in Division I men’s college basketball. A national committee of top college basketball personnel determined the watch list of 20 candidates in November, which has now been narrowed to 10.
A two-time Big 12 Newcomer of the Week, Dick leads KU with 57 threes and a 42.5 shooting percent from beyond the arc. Following his 21-point performance in Kansas’ 88-80 win versus No. 5 Texas on Feb. 6, the Wichita, Kansas, native averages 14.5 points per game, which is 11th in the Big 12. Dick has six games of 20 or more points scored this season. Additionally, averages 5.0 rebounds per game and is making 85.3 percent from the free throw line.
Dick’s 57 threes are the third-most made in the Big 12 through games of Feb. 6 and rank fifth on the KU freshmen all-time list. His 14.5 scoring average ranks fifth on the KU freshmen list, just behind Danny Manning’s 14.6 set in 1984-85. Dick’s 85.3 free throw percentage is second on the KU freshman list, trailing only Ben McLemore’s 87.0% set in 2012-13.
Joining Dick on the 10-person list are Adam Flagler (Baylor), Keyonte George (Baylor), Marcus Sasser (Houston), Terrence Shannon Jr. (Illinois), Taevion Kensey (Marshall), Isaiah Wond (Miami), Terquavion Smith (NC State), Santiago Vescovi (Tennessee) and Jordan Hawkins (UConn).
College basketball fans are encouraged to participate in Fan Voting, which begins Friday, Feb. 10 at hoophallawards.com. In late February, the watch list of 10 players for the 2023 Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award will be narrowed to five. In March, those finalists will be presented to Mr. West and the Hall of Fame’s selection committee where a winner will be selected.
The winner of the 2023 Jerry West Award will be presented on a to be determined date, along with the other four members of the Men’s Starting Five. Additional awards being presented include the Bob Cousy Point Guard Award, the Julius Erving Small Forward Award, the Karl Malone Power Forward Award and the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center Award, in addition to the Women’s Starting Five.
Previous winners of the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award include Johnny Davis, Wisconsin (2022), Chris Duarte, Oregon (2021), Myles Powell, Seton Hall (2020), RJ Barrett, Duke (2019), Carsen Edwards, Purdue (2018), Malik Monk, Kentucky (2017), Buddy Hield, Oklahoma (2016) and D’Angelo Russell, Ohio State (2015).
No. 9 Kansas (19-5, 7-4) will play at Oklahoma (12-11, 2-8) Feb. 11, at 12 p.m. CT on CBS.
