Deandre Ayton Becomes Third Wildcat Named to a Watch List

Deandre Ayton was named to the Karl Malone Award Watch List by the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame.

TUCSON, Ariz. – The anticipation for the 2017-18 Arizona Basketball season continues to grow on the national landscape as yet another Wildcat has earned a spot on a positional watch list by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Freshman Deandre Ayton is officially in the running for the Karl Malone Award after making their preseason list, continuing the accolades of UA guards Allonzo Trier and Rawle Alkins earlier in the week.

Ayton came to Tucson as the 23^rd McDonald's All-American in Arizona history. He was the first ESPN No. 1 overall prospect in the nation to head to a Pac-12 school since 2007 at the time of his commitment after earning Naismith Trophy High School All-American honors. The 7-foot-1-inch forward scored 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds in the 2017 Jordan Brand Classic game. A native of Nassau, Bahamas, Ayton represented his home country in the 2014 Centrobasket competition.

Arizona kicks off its season with the annual McDonald's Red-Blue Game on Friday, Oct. 20 inside McKale Center.

2018 Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award Candidates

Deandre Ayton	Arizona
Nana Foulland	Bucknell
Gary Clark Jr.	Cincinnati
Marvin Bagley III	Duke
Wendell Carter Jr.	Duke
Nick Mayo	Eastern Kentucky
Yante Maten	Georgia
Rokas Gustys	Hofstra
PJ Washington	Kentucky
Moritz Wagner	Michigan
Jordan Murphy	Minnesota
Alize Johnson	Missouri St.
Bonzie Colson II	Notre Dame
Mike Daum	South Dakota St.
Reid Travis	Stanford
Obi Enechionyia	Temple
Dylan Osetkowski	Texas
Robert Williams	Texas A&M
Zach Smith	Texas Tech
William Lee	UAB
Bennie Boatwright	USC