MANHATTAN, Kan. – Junior guard P.J. Haggerty was among 50 players to be listed on the John R. Wooden Award Preseason Watch List as announced by the Los Angeles Athletic Club.
The John R. Wooden Award is given annually to the most outstanding player in college basketball and is awarded based on votes considering a player’s performance on and off the court.
Haggerty is one of 11 Big 12 players on the list, including Texas Tech’s Christian Anderson and JT Toppin, BYU’s AJ Dybansta and Ritchie Saunders, Iowa State’s Tamin Lipsey, Arizona’s Koa Peat, Kansas’ Darryn Peterson and Houston’s Emanuel Sharp, Joseph Tugler and Milos Uzan.
This is the fourth time Haggerty has been named to the watch list for a national player of the year award, as he was among 20 candidates for the 2026 NABC Division I Player of the Year on Oct. 30 while he was selected to the watch lists for the 2025-26 Jersey Mike’s Naismith Trophy Men’s College Player of the Year award and the Oscar Robertson Trophy, which is given annually to the Player of the Year by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association earlier this month.
Haggerty is off to a great start to the season, as he ranks second nationally in scoring at 26 points per game. He is one of three Wildcats to open the season with four consecutive games of 20 or more points, which includes a 31-point, 10-rebound performance in the win over Tulsa on Monday night. He is the first Wildcat with such a stat line since Michael Beasley in 2008.
Haggerty 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.