Boston, MA – Austin Peay State University (APSU) men’s basketball junior Terry Taylor has been named to the 2019-20 Lou Henson Award Midseason Watch List, announced Thursday.
The Lou Henson Award is presented annually to the nation’s top Division I mid-major player.
The award honors Henson, the former Illinois and New Mexico State coach who won 775 games in 41 seasons.
Henson is the winningest coach in Illinois basketball history with 423 victories. During his 21 seasons (1975-1996), Henson led the Fighting Illini to 16 postseason appearances, including 12 NCAA tournaments and a Final Four appearance in 1989.
The preseason Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year according to both the media at-large and the league’s coaches and athletic communications directors, Taylor remains on the list after being a preseason choice as well.
Somehow, Taylor has stepped his game up even further in 2019-20. Not only does he lead the OVC in both scoring (23.8 ppg) and rebounding (9.4 rpg), he’s one of only two players in the nation leading his league in scoring and rebounding. Entering the weekend, Taylor is among the nation’s top-25 in total field goals (154, first), scoring (23.8 ppg, fourth), total points (381, fifth), total field goal attempts (267, 10th), offensive rebounds per game (3.75 orpg, 19th) and double-doubles (seven, 23rd).
He’s already earned a program-record five OVC Player of the Week honors during his junior campaign—the single-season league record of eight belongs to future NBA first-round draft picks Ja Morant and Kenneth Faried. He’s one of 13 active Division I players with 1500 career points and 700 career rebounds, and the only one who has yet to finish his junior season.
Taylor is one of 50 mid-major players to appear on the list; Belmont’s Nick Muszynski is the only other OVC player on the list.
The 2019-20 Lou Henson National Player of the Year Award will be announced in April 2020 in Atlanta, GA, site of the men’s Division I NCAA Basketball Championship.
