MANHATTAN, Kan. – Junior guard P.J. Haggerty was among 20 players named to the watch list for the 2026 National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division I Player of the Year award in an announcement by the organization on Thursday (Oct. 30).
The award is selected in a nationwide vote of Division I head coaches at the conclusion of the regular season. It will be announced the week of the 2026 Final Four.
Haggerty was joined on the watch list by four other Big 12 players, including BYU’s AJ Dybantsa, Kansas’ Darryn Peterson, Texas Tech’s JT Toppin and Houston’s Milos Uzan.
Other candidates include Tennessee’s Nate Ament, Duke’s Cameron Boozer, Florida’s Alex Condon, UCLA’s Donovan Dent, St. John’s Zuby Ejiofor, Gonzaga’s Graham Ike, UConn’s Alex Karaban, Purdue’s Trey Kaufman-Renn, Michigan’s Yaxel Lendeborg, Kentucky’s Otega Oweh, Auburn’s Tahaad Pettiford, Alabama’s Labaron Philon, Purdue’s Braden Smith, Iowa’s Bennett Stirtz and N.C. State’s Darrion Williams.
Haggerty has already received a number of preseason accolades, including All-America honors from CBS Sports, Jay Bilas, The Field of 68, Jon Rothstein and @CBBAnalytics and All-Big 12 honors from the league coaches. He was also named to the watch list for the Jerry West Award, which is given annually the nation’s top shooting guard.
Haggerty scored a game-high 23 points in last Friday’s exhibition at Missouri, connecting on 8-of-14 field goals, including 2-of-4 from 3-point range, and 5-of-7 free throws to go with a game-high 6 assists, 2 steals and 2 rebounds in just under 25 minutes of action.
A consensus Second Team All-American at Memphis, Haggerty is coming off a career year in 2024-25, in which, he became the first Division I player since Ja Morant in 2018-19 to average 21.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.5 steals to go with 6.5 free throws per game. He ranked third nationally in both scoring (21.7 ppg.) and total points (759), while his 759 points were an AAC single-season record and the most since Dajuan Wagner (762) set the school single-season record in 2001-02. He became the first Memphis Tiger since 2008 to be named an AP All-American, while he was selected as the AAC Player of the Year, First Team All-AAC and the Most Outstanding Player of the 2025 AAC Championship.