University of Connecticut Athletics
Solo Ball Named To West Award Midseason Watch List
2/3/2026 1:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – UConn men's basketball standout Solo Ball has been named to the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award Midseason Watch List, as announced by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame on Tuesday (Feb. 3). The Hall of Fame is announcing Midseason Watch List honorees for the Naismith 'Starting Five' positional awards this week.
Ball is one of 10 players nationally on the midseason list for the top shooting guard honor and the lone BIG EAST representative. This season the 6'4 junior leads UConn in scoring, pumping in 14.6 points per game along with 3.7 rebounds and 1.5 assists. He has started all 21 games in which he has appeared and is second on the Huskies logging 29.9 minutes per game.
Last year Ball was one of the nation's most efficient 3-pointers and connected at a 41.4 percent clip. This year he has knocked down 1.9 triples per game and improved his three-level scoring to offset an early 3-point slump, shooting 57.1 percent inside the arc on 105 attempts and 84.6 percent from the free throw line on 3.7 attempts per game.
Ball has eclipsed the 20-point mark in a game twice this season, including a career-high 26 points on Dec. 16 in a win over Butler and 24 points on 5-of-12 shooting from three on Jan. 24 against Villanova. He has hit double-digits in 16 of 21 contests and knocked down multiple 3-pointers in a game 12 times. Ball has grabbed at least five rebounds in a game on eight occasions, including nabbing a season-high eight along with 17 points in a win over Marquette on Jan. 4.
The Huskies have won a Naismith 'Starting Five' award three times in program history, with Kemba Walker (2011), Shabazz Napier (2014) and Tristen Newton (2024) all recipients of the Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Award.
