Heron Selected for Jerry West Award Preseason List

Jamaica, NY—Just a few days after the announcement of Auburn transfer Mustapha Heron becoming eligible to play this season, more accolades have fallen into the lap of the junior guard, as Heron becomes the second Johnnie in as many seasons to be nominated for the 2018-19 Jerry West Award Preseason Watch List.

A background about the award named after the prestigious hall of famer. One of five awards given out by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. The five awards mean each position on the floor gets recognized. The watch list is cut down to 10 by mid-February before a group of five are selected by the committee in March. The winner of the prestigious award will be announced at the ESPN College Basketball Show presented by Wendy’s on Friday, April 12th, 2019 in Los Angeles.

Heron is the lone player from the Big East to be nominated to the award this season. Many critics have been disappointed that Seton Hall product Myles Powell was not selected for the award. Some of the players nominated include the nations most prominent players along with scorers: Tyus Battle from Syracuse, Bryce Brown at Auburn (former teammate of Heron), local player from Hofstra University in the CAA conference, Justin Wright-Foreman, along with Duke’s R.J. Barrett, who the Johnnies will be facing this season (2/2 at 12:00pm on ESPN)

FROM ST. JOHN’S ATHLETICS- Heron comes to Queens by way of the Southeastern Conference, better known as the SEC and the Auburn Tigers. Mustapha scored over 1,000 points in just two seasons with the Tigers. This past season, Heron was named to the All-SEC Second Team by the Associated Press after leading Auburn to an SEC Co-Regular season championship and an appearance in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Waterbury, CT native averaged 16.4 points per game, and 5.3 rebounds as a sophomore, the former of which was good enough for sixth in the SEC. The 6 foot 5 guard reached double figures in 29 of his 32 appearances with eight performances of 20 points or more and one 30-point showing. He also notched a pair of double-doubles.