UCLA's Jaime Jaquez Jr. Named One of 5 Finalists For Julius Erving Award

The Bruins' "glue guy" is up for the top award for his position alongside Julian Champagnie, Ron Harper Jr., Hyunjung Lee and Wendell Moore.

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 (22-6, 14-5 Pac-12) guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. was named a finalist for the Julius Erving Award on Wednesday. The award is given to the top small forward in the country and, along with the other four positional awards, is handed out by a national committee of college basketball personnel in conjunction with the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Jaquez was a member of the 20-player preseason watch list back in October, and he was one of the 10 semifinalists named in early February. Tyger Campbell was also named a finalist for the Bob Cousy Award on Monday and Johnny Juzang was named a finalist for the Jerry West Award on Tuesday.

The other small forwards who will be going head-to-head with Jaquez are St. John's' Julian Champagnie, Rutgers' Ron Harper Jr., Davidson's Hyunjung Lee and Duke's Wendell Moore. Jaquez and the Bruins have not played any of the other finalists.

No other team has multiple finalists through the first three announcements – UCLA has three.

Jaquez has played the majority of the season banged up, even though he has only missed one game. Multiple injuries have caused the wing to leave several games early, and when he has been on the court, he has been wearing two ankle braces.

Still, Jaquez is averaging 12.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.1 steals per game amid all the injuries. Jaquez ranks in the top 20 leaders in scoring, rebounding, field goal percentage and free throw percentage in the Pac-12.

Jaquez has left three games early and has been heavily load managed in two more. Taking those five contests out of the equation, Jaquez is averaging 14.9 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.4 steals per game.

The past four games, especially, have marked a return to form for Jaquez, who was a March Madness standout in 2021 and a preseason All-American candidate this year. Jaquez is averaging 17.5 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game on .535/.556/.864 shooting splits since Feb. 21, and he is averaging 30.8 minutes per game in those games.

Jaquez capped off that most recent run with a career-best 30-point, nine-rebound outing against Washington on Feb. 28. Jaquez also crossed the 1,000-point threshold for his career that night.

The Erving Award, which has been given out since the 2014-2015 season, has never gone to a UCLA student-athlete, nor has one ever been named a finalist.

The winner of the Erving 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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