SAN DIEGO – San Diego State men's basketball's Malachi Flynn, who leads the No. 4 ranked and only undefeated team in the nation, is one of 10 finalists for The Basketball Hall of Fame's 2020 Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Award. The announcement was made at the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., on Monday.
Flynn is the only finalist for the award who is not a member of a basketball power conference.
The Tacoma, Wash., native leads the Aztecs in points (16.5/g), assists (117), assists per game (5.1/g), assist-to-turnover ratio (3.44:1), steals (41), field goals (124), three-point field goals (50) and free throws (81). He ranks first in the Mountain West in assists, steals and assist-to-turnover ratio and is third in free throw percentage (83.5 percent), fifth in field goal percentage (44.9 percent), sixth in scoring and seventh in three-pointers per game (2.17/g).
Nationally, based on games through Feb. 1, Flynn ranks in the top-100 in assist-to-turnover ratio (No. 5), is No. 42 in assists, No. 52 in steals (41), No. 53 in assists per game, No. 86 in steals per game (1.78/g), No. 90 in free throw percentage and No. 93 in points (379).
Now in its 17th year and named after Class of 1971 Hall of Famer and former Boston Celtic and Holy Cross guard Bob Cousy, the annual honor recognizes the top point guards in Division I men's college basketball. A national committee comprising top college basketball personnel determined the watch list of 20 candidates in October, which has now been narrowed to just 10.
In March, five finalists will be presented to Mr. Cousy and the Hall of Fame's selection committee. The winner of the 2020 Bob Cousy Award will be presented at The College Basketball Awards presented by Wendy's in Los Angeles on Friday, April 10, 2020. The winner along with winner of the Jerry West Shooting Guard Award, the Julius Erving Small Forward Award, the Karl Malone Power Forward Award and the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center Award will comprise the "Naismith Starting Five."
New to this year's program is the fan voting presented by Dell Technologies. Starting on Friday, February 7, fans will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite players at www.hoophallawards.com. The top 5 player selections on the fan vote will get an additional vote towards making the next round.
2020 Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Award Finalists
Jared Butler, Baylor
Devon Dotson, Kansas
Malachi Flynn, San Diego State
Ashton Hagans, Kentucky
Tyrese Haliburton, Iowa State
Markus Howard, Marquette
Tre Jones, Duke
Payton Pritchard, Oregon
Cassius Winston, Michigan State
McKinley Wright IV, Colorado
-SDSU-