Arizona sophomore wing Bennedict Mathurin was one of 20 players named to the Wooden Award's late-season watch list Monday, four weeks after he jumped onto the midseason watch list for one of college basketball's major player of the year awards.
Former UA guard James Akinjo of Baylor was also named during the announcement on ESPN along with two other Pac-12 players: UCLA guard Johnny Juzang and USC forward Isaiah Mobley.
Mathurin was not named to the Wooden Award's 50-player preseason watch list, which included three UCLA players (Tyger Campbell, Juzang and Jaime Jaquez) plus Mobley and Oregon's Will Richardson. But Mathurin's explosive play in the early season moved him ahead of many players on the list who were dropped at midseason.
Between the Wildcats’ first two Pac-12 games (against Oregon State and Washington) and big nonconference games at Illinois and Tennessee, he averaged 28.5 points while shooting 60.9% from the field.
While receiving increasing attention from defenses since then, Mathurin is still leading the Wildcats in scoring (17.2 points per game) and is tied for being the team's second-leading rebounder at 6.1 per game with Azuolas Tubelis.
The Pac-12 had four Pac-12 players on the midseason watch list, with Mathurin joining Jaquez and Mobley.
