Arkansas' Chris Lykes Named to Watch List for Naismith Trophy

Miami graduate senior guard one of 50 players across the country on watch list for top player award

One of Arkansas' shortest players on the floor (on both teams) every game is among the 50 players named to the watch list for the Naismith Trophy on Monday.

Chris Lykes, just 5-foot-7, is in his first season with the Razorbacks after being a part of the Miami Hurricanes the previous four seasons.

He has also received other national preseason recognition, such as:

• The No. 20 returning player in college basketball (Andy Katz – March Madness).

• Named No. 51 on CBSSports.com Top 100 and 1 Best College Basketball Players entering 2021-22.

• One of 30 impact transfers (Jon Rothstein – College Hoops Today).

Lykes only played two games last season before suffering a season-ending injury.

Prior to that, he was named first team preseason All-ACC.

The previous two seasons, he led the team — and ranked among the ACC top 10 — in scoring as he averaged 15.4 points (10th in the ACC) as a junior (2019-20) and 16.2 points (ninth in the ACC) as a sophomore (2018-19).

In three-plus seasons with the Hurricanes, Lykes scored 1,256 points with 251 assists and 100 steals.

Arkansas opens the 2021-22 season on Tuesday, hosting Mercer at 7 p.m.

The game will only be available on the SEC Network+ stream and can be heard online at HitThatLine.com or on ESPN Arkansas 99.5 in Fayetteville, 95.3 in the River Valley, 96.3 in Hot Springs and 104.3 in Harrison-Mountain Home.

Information from Arkansas Communications is included in this story.

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