UCLA's Tyger Campbell Named One of 5 Finalists For Bob Cousy Award

The regular season is one week away from coming to a close, meaning the frontrunners for national awards are in the final stages of setting themselves apart from the crowd.

No. 17 UCLA men's basketball (21-6, 13-5 Pac-12) guard Tyger Campbell was named a finalist for the Bob Cousy Award on Monday. The award is given to the top point guard in the country and, along with the other four positional awards, is doled out by a national committee of college basketball personnel in conjunction with the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Campbell was a member of the 20-player preseason watch list back in October, and he was one of the 10 semifinalists named in late January. Johnny Juzang was still in the running for the Jerry West Award for top shooting guard at that most recent check-in, and he will find out if he is a finalist Tuesday morning.

The other point guards who will be going head-to-head with Campbell are Gonzaga's Andrew Nembhard, Villanova's Collin Gillespie, Kentucky's Sahvir Wheeler and Baylor's James Akinjo. Campbell and the Bruins have played two of those other finalists, losing to Nembhard's Bulldogs and beating Gillespie's Wildcats in November – UCLA beat Akinjo twice last season when he was Arizona's leading scorer.

Gillespie is the leading scorer among the finalists, while Wheeler leads the way with 7.0 assists per game.

Campbell is in the middle in both categories, although he is just a few tenths of a percentage point away from passing Gillespie as the best 3-point shooter of the group and is second in true-shooting percentage as well.

UCLA's floor general is averaging 12.0 points, 4.3 assists, 2.6 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game this season, shooting career highs across the board at 44.5% from the field, 42.4% from deep and 81.7% from the free throw line. Campbell leads the Bruins in assists, steals and 3-pointers made.

Campbell ranks No. 1 in the Pac-12 and No. 6 in the nation with a 3.4-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio, leading the finalists in that category while also boasting the fewest turnovers of the bunch.

The Cedar Rapids, Iowa, native has picked up one Pac-12 Player of the Week award, winning it earlier in January after averaging 14 points, 7.5 assists and 1.5 steals per game on over 60% shooting from the field and from beyond the arc in a pair of wins over Long Beach State and Cal.

Campbell has missed two games in February – one after breaking a team rule and another with a shoulder injury he suffered early on against Washington. In the five games he has played in this month, UCLA is just 2-3, a far cry from the 21-3 record his team had in his previous 24 starts.

Regardless, Campbell is averaging 14.4 points and 3.9 assists on .461/.433/.857 shooting splits in that most recent span and he remains towards the top of the conference leaderboards in several categories. Taking out the Washington game in which he only played 21 minutes in due to that shoulder injury, those averages go up to 15.8 points and 4.3 assists per game.

The last time the Bruins had a finalist for the Cousy Award was 2017, when Lonzo Ball was up for the honor. The award, which has been given out since the 2003-2004 season, has never gone to a UCLA student-athlete.

The winner of the Cousy Award will be announced at a date that has yet to be determined, although it previously occurred at the College Basketball Awards show in downtown Los Angeles the week after the NCAA tournament and Final Four conclude in early April.

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