BOSTON, Mass. (November 20, 2024) – Collegeinsider.com announced on Tuesday afternoon the 2024-25 Lou Henson 'Early Season' Watch list, naming Northern Arizona's
Trent McLaughlin alongside 49 other Division-I mid-major men's basketball student-athletes.
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.
McLaughlin was named the Big Sky Conference's preseason MVP, as voted on by league head coaches. The senior is just 158 points shy of joining NAU's 1,000-point club after breaking 1,000 career points last week during the Jacks road victory over the Pacific Tigers, which includes McLaughlin's stats from his first year at Central Connecticut State.
McLaughlin currently leads the conference in scoring with 120 points in 168 minutes on the floor, 39 points ahead of the Big Sky's next leading scorer. Averaging 24.0 points a night, McLaughlin has landed himself in the nation's top ten scorers. With 11 steals in five games, McLaughlin ranks 36
th in the nation in the category, averaging 2.2 per game. The Chandler, Arizona native also leads the team in assists, averaging 3.8 per game while scoring in double-digits in 21 consecutive games.
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 collegeinsider.com.
The 2025 award will be announced in San Antonio, TX, site of the men's Division I Basketball Championship.
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