BOSTON, Mass. (November 19, 2024) – North Alabama junior guard Jacari Lane was named to the 2024-25 Lou Henson Early Season Watch List on Tuesday. The award is presented annually to the top player in mid-major college basketball.
Lane is off to a stellar start as a junior, ranking 13th in the nation with 107 points over five game to average 21.4 points per game. Last Friday, the Huntsville native posted a career-high 32 points against defending Southern Conference champion Samford. He had a team-high 16 points on Monday at No. 4 Auburn.
The junior guard is the only returning first team all-conference selection in the Atlantic Sun Conference. As a freshman, Lane earned Freshman and Sixth Man of the Year. Over 70 career games, he has scored in double figures 50 times.
Fifty players were named to the watch list on Tuesday, including three from the ASUN in Lane, Lipscomb’s Jacob Ognacevic and EKU’s Devontae Blanton.
The Lou Henson award honors the former Illinois and New Mexico State head coach who won
775 games in 41 seasons.
Coach Henson is the winningest coach in Illinois basketball history with 423 victories. During
his 21 seasons (1975-1996), Henson led the Fighting Illini to 16 postseason appearances,
including 12 NCAA tournaments and a Final Four appearance in 1989.
Henson, who is also the all-time winningest coach in New Mexico State history with 289
victories, is one of only 11 coaches to take two different schools to the NCAA Final Four. His
teams have made 19 NCAA appearances and four NIT appearances.
Coach Henson passed away on July 25, 2020.
The recipient of the annual award is determined by a 10-member voting committee, which
consists of current and former head coaches, as well as two senior staff members of
The 2025 award will be announced in San Antonio, Texas — site of the men’s Division I Basketball Championship.
2024-25 LOU HENSON AWARD EARLY SEASON WATCH LIST
Tytan Anderson 6-6 Northern Iowa
Daniel Batcho 6-11 Louisiana Tech
Rasheed Bello 6-0 Purdue Fort Wayne
Austin Benigni 5-10 Navy
Devontae Blanton 6-6 EKU
Juslin Bodo Bodo 7-0 High Point
Trey Bonham 6-0 Chattanooga
Jamar Brown 6-5 Kansas City
Ante Brzovic 6-10 Charleston
Adam Clark 5-10 Merrimack
AJ Clayton 6-7 Ohio
Zach Cleveland 6-7 Liberty
Tayton Conerway 6-3 Troy
Duke Deen 5-8 Bradley
Kintavious Dozier 6-1 Grambling
Kezza Giffa 6-2 High Point
Landon Glasper 6-2 NC A&T
Tyon Grant-Foster 6-7 Grand Canyon
Barrington Hargress 6-0 UC Riverside
Bryce Harris 6-4 Howard
Ray Harrison 6-4 Grand Canyon
Ty Johnson 6-3 UC Davis
Jordan Jones 6-0 Central Connecticut
Rylan Jones 6-0 Samford
Kobe Julien 6-6 Arkansas State
Jacari Lane 6-0 North Alabama
Xaivian Lee 6-4 Princeton
Kino Lilly, Jr. 6-0 Brown
TJ Long 6-4 Vermont
Augustas Marciulionis 6-4 Saint Mary’s
Bez Mbeng 6-4 Yale
Issac McBride 6-0 Oral Roberts
AJ McKee 6-2 Milwaukee
Trent McLaughlin 6-6 Northern Arizona
Amarri Monroe 6-7 Quinnipiac
Brandon Noel 6-8 Wright State
Jacob Ognacevic 6-8 Lipscomb
Caden Pierce 6-7 Princeton
Josh Pascarelli 6-3 Marist
Quimari Peterson 6-1 ETSU
John Poulakidas 6-6 Yale
Matt Rogers 6-9 American
Geronimo Rubio De La Rosa 6-2 Columbia
Christian Shumate 6-6 McNeese
Javan Simmons 6-7 Toledo
Payton Sparks 6-10 Ball State
Ray'Sean Taylor 6-1 SIU Edwardsville
Earl Timberlake 6-6 Bryant
Lamar Wilkerson 6-5 Sam Houston
JaCobi Wood 6-2 Murray State
