Kansas City, Mo. – The Nationals Awards Committee and Small College Basketball announced that East Stroudsburg University men's basketball redshirt senior Lakeem McAliley was named to the Trevor Hudgins Top 25 Watch List for the 2024-25 season.

The Trevor Hudgins Award is presented to the senior who has had the best overall four-year (or five-year) career within Small College Basketball.
Considerations for the Trevor Hudgins Award include overall career statistics and achievements, team achievements, awards, and personal character. The player must have played their entire career at the small-college level. This is the highest award given to a four-year (or five-year) player within Small College Basketball.

So far in his career, McAliley has helped lead the Warriors to an 83-27 record (75.4% winning percentage) and an NCAA tournament appearance. Individually, he has been an All-PSAC East honoree each season, making the first team the past two seasons. Last season, he earned D2CCA All-Atlantic Region Second Team honors, NABC All-District Second Team honors, and was the LVSCBO Pete Nevins Player of the Year.

Entering competition this week, McAliley has totaled 1,823 points (16.6 ppg), 627 rebounds (5.5 rpg), 196 steals (1.8 spg), and 91 blocks (0.83 bpg), all while only averaging 20.6 minutes per game. In terms of shooting efficiency, he shoots 56.1% from the floor and 37.8% from three-point range.

As one of the best to wear a Warrior uniform, McAliley ranks 3rd in points (only 37 points away from 2nd), 5th in steals (one away from 4th), 8th in field goal percentage (0.1 away from 7th), 9th in blocks (two away from 8th), 11th in rebounds (27 away from 10th and former teammate Carlos Pepin), and tied for 12th in three-point percentage (0.2 away from 11th).

Last month, McAliley was named to the Bevo Francis Award Watch List Top 100, with the Top 50 being announced on February 15.

Upcoming Watch List Dates

• March 1 – Top 15 released
• April 5 – Finalists named
• April 7 – Award winner revealed

  
About Trevor Hudgins
The award is named in honor of Northwest Missouri State's Trevor Hudgins, who had a historic career with the Bearcats. He led the Bearcats to three consecutive NCAA Division II National Championships. During his career, Hudgins started in every game and never missed one. He also never lost an NCAA Tournament game, leading the Bearcats to a remarkable 17-0 record in the NCAA Division II National Tournament. Hudgins was named the NCAA Division II Player of the Year in back-to-back seasons in 2021 and 2022. He holds both the NWMSU scoring and assists records and finished his career with 2,829 points, which ranks first all time in the 110 year history of the MIAA.
 
About Small College Basketball
Small College Basketball will serve a niche within college basketball, uniting the NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, NAIA, USCAA and NCCAA levels.
 
Through the creation of the Small College Basketball Hall of Fame, events, awards, the website and various forms of publicity, it will pay tribute, honor and promote college basketball players, coaches, contributors and alumni within NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, NAIA, USCAA and NCCAA. Combined, these levels of college basketball account for nearly 1,200 colleges and universities throughout the United States.
 
At the heart of Small College Basketball will be the people who have made the game at these levels very special. The focus is to enhance their lives by paying special tribute to those who have made great contributions. By doing so, Small College Basketball will raise the profile of basketball at these levels and enhance the overall game. Ultimately, Small College Basketball is about people and passion.