Nash On Short List Of Julius Erving Award Finalists

Oklahoma State's Le'Bryan Nash is one of 15 national finalists for the 2015 Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced today.

Named after Hall of Famer and 11-time NBA All-Star Julius Erving, the annual honor in its inaugural year recognizes the top small forwards in Division I men's college basketball. A national committee comprised of top college basketball personnel determined the watch list of 15 candidates.

Nash enters tonight's game against Iowa State ranked second in the Big 12 by averaging 17.2 points per game and leads the Big 12 and ranks in the top 25 nationally in both free throws made (135) and free throws attempted (172). His 27 career games with 20 points or more leads the Big 12, as do his 1,720 career points. Nash has scored in double figures every game this season and ranks fifth in school history in points scored.

By early March, the current list of 15 finalists for the 2015 Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award will be narrowed down to five players. The final five players in contention for the award will be presented to Mr. Erving and the Hall of Fame's selection committee. The winner of the 2015 Julius Erving Award will be presented at ESPN's new College Basketball Awards presented by Wendy's from Club Nokia in Los Angeles, CA on Friday, April 10, 2015. The Awards will be televised live on ESPN2 at 8:00pm EST.

2015 Julius Erving Award Candidates

Stanley Johnson, University of Arizona

Roosevelt Jones, Butler University

Justise Winslow, Duke University

Branden Dawson, Michigan State University

Denzel Valentine, Michigan State University

Terran Petteway, University of Nebraska

Pat Connaughton, University of Notre Dame

Le'Bryan Nash, Oklahoma State University

LaDontae Henton, Providence College

Anthony Brown, Stanford University

Jonathan Holmes, University of Texas

Vince Hunter, University of Texas, El Paso

Treveon Graham, Virginia Commonwealth University

Justin Anderson, University of Virginia

Sam Dekker, University of Wisconsin