Julian Champagnie One of Five Finalists for Julius Erving Award

QUEENS, N.Y. – St. John's junior Julian Champagnie has been named one of the five finalists for the Julius Erving Award, presented annually by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame to the top small forward in the nation.

Champagnie, the second-leading scorer in the BIG EAST, joins an impressive fraternity of finalists that includes Duke's Wendell Moore, Davidson, Hyunjung Lee, UCLA's Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Rutgers' Ron Harper Jr.

Through 27 appearances this season, Champagnie leads the team and ranks second in the conference with 19.0 points per game. He has finished in double figures 22 times with 13 efforts of 20-plus points, including a trio of 30-point showings against high-major opponents.

In addition to being an elite scorer, Champagnie is also the Red Storm's top rebounder at 6.6 boards per contest and ranks second in the league with 1.9 steals per outing. The Brooklyn native is one of only four players in the country to average at least 19.0 points and 1.9 thefts per game alongside Washington's Terrell Brown Jr., Arkansas' JD Notae and Vanderbilt's Scotty Pippen Jr.

Entering tonight's game against Xavier, Champagnie is three points shy of tying fellow Bishop Loughlin alumnus Mark Jackson (1,328) for 25^th on the Red Storm's all-time scoring list. He is also three 3-pointers away from moving into the top-five all-time in program history.

Tickets are still available for tonight's contest against the Musketeers and can be purchased by clicking here.

A national committee of top college basketball personnel determined the watch list of 20 candidates in November, which was narrowed to 10 candidates in late January and now just five finalists. This month, the finalists will be presented to Mr. Erving and the Hall of Fame's selection committee. The winner of the 2022 Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award will be determined by a combination of fan votes and input from the Basketball Hall of Fame's selection committee. Naismith Starting Five Fan Voting presented by Dell Technologies will go live on Friday, March 4 on hoophallawards.com.

The winner of the 2022 Julius Erving Award will be presented on a to be determined date, along with the other four members of the Men's Starting Five. Additional awards being presented include the Bob Cousy Point Guard Award, Jerry West Shooting Guard Award, the Karl Malone Power Forward Award and the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center Award, in addition to the Women's Starting Five. Additional information about the award presentation, including date and time, will be released in the coming weeks.

Previous winners of the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award include Corey Kispert, Gonzaga (2021), Saddiq Bey, Villanova (2020), Rui Hachimura, Gonzaga (2019), Mikal Bridges, Villanova (2018), Josh Hart, Villanova (2017), Denzel Valentine, Michigan State (2016) and Stanley Johnson, Arizona (2015).

St. John's University Athletics

Julian Champagnie One of Five Finalists for Julius Erving Award

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Julian Champagnie

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