Baylor basketball forward Johnathan Motley is one of 19 players on the Oscar Robertson Trophy midseason watch list, as announced Monday by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association.
The Oscar Robertson Trophy has been presented annually by the USBWA to the Men’s National Player of the Year in every year since 1959. This year’s winner will be announced at a news conference on March 31 at the Final Four in Phoenix.
A junior from Houston, Motley is the only player from a program in Texas on the watch list, and he joins Kansas’ Frank Mason III as the only Big 12 Conference players. Motley was previously named to the Wooden Award Midseason Top 25 and watch lists for the Karl Malone Award, the Lute Olson Award and the Naismith Trophy.
Motley, who was named Big 12 Player of the Week for the third time this season earlier Monday, has led the Bears to their best 19-game start in program history at 18-1. Baylor is also 6-1 in Big 12 play for the first time in the league’s 21-year history.
Motley leads the league with seven double-doubles on the season and is first among all active Big 12 players with 12 career double-doubles. He ranks seventh in the Big 12 with 15.7 points per game, second with 9.6 rebounds per game, ninth with a .514 field goal percentage and 10th with 1.2 blocks per game.
The No. 5-ranked Bears host Texas Tech at 7 p.m. CT Wednesday on ESPNEWS. BU then travels to Oxford, Miss., to face Ole Miss on Saturday at 5 p.m. CT (ESPN2) and then heads to Lawrence, Kan., to face No. 2 Kansas on Feb. 1 at 8 p.m. CT (ESPN).
