UCLA's Juzang Among 30 Candidates for Naismith Trophy
February 10, 2022 | Men's Basketball
ATLANTA โ UCLA junior Johnny Juzang has been named to the midseason team for the 2022 Jersey Mike's Naismith Trophy, as announced Thursday by the Atlanta Tipoff Club.
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The Naismith Trophy is annually awarded to the top men's and women's college basketball players. The midseason team includes 30 top players based upon performance this season.
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Juzang, a 6-foot-7 guard from Tarzana, Calif., has averaged a team-best 18.1 points per game this season. Juzang currently ranks second in the Pac-12 in scoring. He has shot 45.5 percent from the field this season and 36.8 percent from 3-point territory. He leads all UCLA players in 3-pointers made (35) and has shot a team-best 84.9 percent from the free throw line (45-of-53).
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Juzang secured second-team All-Pac-12 acclaim as a sophomore at UCLA in 2020-21, having led the Bruins in scoring that season (16.0 points per game).
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UCLA's program has seen three of its players win the Naismith Trophy a total of five times. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then known as Lew Alcindor) was the first-ever recipient of the prestigious national award in 1969, at the conclusion of his senior year. Bill Walton won the Naismith Trophy three consecutive seasons (1972-74) and Marques Johnson won the award as a senior in 1977.
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The Bruins (17-4, 9-3 Pac-12) return to action this weekend at USC (20-4, 9-4 Pac-12). Saturday night's game will begin at 7 p.m. (PT) at USC's Galen Center. The Bruins' contest will be nationally televised on ESPN.
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For more information on this season's Jersey Mike's Naismith Trophy, log onto https://naismithtrophy.com.
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