Men's Basketball | January 15, 2025

AIKEN, S.C. – USCA men's basketball standout Jalen McCoy has been named to the 2024-25 Bevo Francis Top 100 Watch List, which was announced by the National Awards Committee and Small College Basketball.

McCoy, a standout from Raleigh, N.C., leads the Pacers with a 20.7 scoring average. The fifth-year student-athlete is the school's Division II leader for field goals made (599). 

This season, McCoy has connected on 118-of-215 (54.9 percent) from the floor. He is second on the squad, averaging 5.7 rebounds per contest. 

A two-time all-PBC selection, McCoy opened the season with a 34-point effort in the win at UNC Pembroke. He has scored at least 30 three times (31 in the win over Livingstone and 30 against Columbia International). McCoy also has five additional games of at least 20 points.

McCoy ranks in the school's Division II top-10 list for field goals made (first), points (third), offensive rebounds (ninth) and games played (t-ninth).

He is third in the PBC in points per game, sixth in field goal percentage, seventh in blocked shots per contest, 13^th in rebounds per game and 20^th in minutes played.

Three months into the season, this year's list is made up of some of the best players from NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, NAIA, USCAA, and NCCAA. John McCarthy had this to say about this year's Top 100 list:

"Congratulations to all 100 players that are on the Bevo Francis Award Watch List of 100 Players," stated McCarthy. "This is a remarkable accomplishment to be listed as one of only 100 out of approximately 13,000-16,000 players that compete at the NCAA DII, NCAA DIII, NAIA and NCCAA levels. I want to emphasize that, while this is ultimately an individual award, we focused on team success as an important criteria for this list, and for this award."

The Clarence "Bevo" Francis Award is presented annually to the player who has had the finest overall season within Small College Basketball. Considerations will be season statistics and individual achievements, awards, personal character and team achievements. This is an incredibly prestigious award, as this award will only be given to one player within Small College Basketball per season.

2025 marks the eighth year of the Bevo Francis Award. Past winners include Dominez Burnett of Davenport University in 2016, Justin Pitts of Northwest Missouri State University in 2017, Emanuel Terry of Lincoln Memorial University in 2018, Aston Francis of Wheaton College in 2019, Kyle Mangas of Indiana Wesleyan University in 2020 and Trevor Hudgins of Northwest Missouri State University in 2022. In 2023, RJ Sunahara of Nova Southeastern was named the winner, while in 2024 Elijah Malone of Grace College received the honor. The award was not presented during the 2021 season. John McCarthy added this about the Bevo Francis Award:

"This is a very challenging, difficult, and somewhat agonizing process, and I truly appreciate a great amount of insight and information from our National Awards Committee," mentioned McCarthy. "Once again, congratulations to each and every player on this list. What an honor! Importantly, I greatly appreciate the University of Rio Grande for their continued support of the Bevo Francis Award, as they have been supporting this award since inception during the 2015-16 season. We are truly grateful."

On February 15th, the list will be reduced to the Top 50 players. One month later, on March 15th, the Top 25 players will be announced. On April 5th, the finalists of this year's award.