LOS ANGELES – San Diego State senior Matt Mitchell in one of 20 Division I student-athletes who have been included on the 2021 Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award Preseason Watch List. The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame made the announcement today.
Named after Class of 1993 Hall of Famer and 16-year professional basketball player Julius Erving, the annual honor in its seventh year recognizes the top small forwards in Division I men's college basketball. A national committee of top college basketball personnel determined the watch list of 20 candidates. Mitchell is the first Aztec to be recognized by the Julius Erving Award since it was first handed out following the 2014-15 season.
A Riverside, Calif., native, Mitchell is one of seven seniors, and one of three players from schools in the state of California (Stanford's Ziaire Williams and Chris Smith of UCLA) on the list. In addition, Mitchell is one of two players (Boise State's Derrick Alston Jr.) competing in the Mountain West Conference to be included on the initial watch list.
The 6-6 forward is coming off a campaign in which he was named a first and second-team All-Mountain West performer in votes by the conference's coaches and media who regularly cover the league, respectively. Also following the 2019-20 season in which the Aztecs finished 30-2, ranked No. 6/6, and won its Mountain West-record 12th title, Mitchell earned National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) second-team All-District 17 honors.
Last season, he averaged 12.2 points per game on .468 shooting (125-of-267) from the floor, including .393 (44-of-112) from beyond the three-point line and knocked down 96-of-110 (.873) free throws, all career-highs. He reached double figure scoring in 19-of-32 games and in those 19 contests SDSU went 18-1. Mitchell finished second on the team in points & points per game (390/12.2), rebounds & rebounds per game (154/4.8), steals, free throws, free throw attempts & free throw percentage (96/110/83.7) and field goal attempts (267). He was third in field goals (125) and fourth in assists, blocks and three-point field goals & three-point field goal attempts (44/112) in 2019-20.
A matchup nightmare for opponents, he ranked second in the Mountain West in free throw percentage (No. 27 in the nation), 17th in scoring and 20th in rebounds (4.8/game). A consistent performer who has averaged 10.5, 10.3 and 12.2 points per game in his three-year Aztec career, Mitchell became the 34th player in program history to surpass 1,000-career points and enters 2020-21 ranked 27th on the SDSU all-time scoring list with 1,085 points.
First handed out following the 2014-15 season, the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award is bestowed upon the nation's best player at an institution of higher education who has proven to his university that he is making progress toward graduation and maintaining a minimum cumulative 2.0 GPA. Previous winners of the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award include Saddiq Bey, Villanova (2020), Rui Hachimura, Gonzaga (2019), Mikal Bridges, Villanova (2018), Josh Hart, Villanova (2017), Denzel Valentine, Michigan State (2016) and Stanley Johnson, Arizona (2015).
In late January, the watch list of 20 players will be narrowed to just 10. Then in late February, five finalists will be presented to Mr. Erving and the Hall of Fame's selection committee to determine the award recipient. Fans are encouraged to participate in Fan Voting presented by Dell Technologies in each of the three rounds, which will go live on Friday, November 6.
The winner of the 2021 Julius Erving Award is scheduled to be presented on Friday, April 9, 2021, along with the other four members of the Men's Starting Five. Additional awards being presented include the Bob Cousy Point Guard Award, the Jerry West Shooting Guard Award, the Karl Malone Power Forward Award, and the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center Award.
For more information on the 2021 Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award and the latest updates, log onto www.hoophallawards.com and follow @hoophall and #ErvingAward on Twitter and Instagram.
2021 Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award Candidates
Derrick Alston Jr., Boise State
Jalen Johnson, Duke
Wendell Moore, Duke
Jayden Gardner, East Carolina
Keyontae Johnson, Florida
Corey Kispert, Gonzaga
Brandon Boston Jr., Kentucky
D.J. Jeffries, Memphis
Aaron Wiggins, Maryland
Franz Wagner, Michigan
Aaron Henry, Michigan State
Ron Harper Jr., Rutgers
Matt Mitchell, San Diego State
Ziaire Williams, Stanford
Yves Pons, Tennessee
Terrence Shannon, Jr., Texas Tech
Chris Smith, UCLA
Timmy Allen, Utah
Jermaine Samuels, Villanova
Sam Hauser, Virginia
-SDSU-
Mitchell Earns Spot On Julius Erving Award Watch List
