Otega Oweh, Jaland Lowe named preseason candidates for Naismith Men's Player of the Year

Naismith Men’s Co-Player of the Year Award winners Otega Oweh and Jaland Lowe? Big Blue Nation loves the sound of that — we’re always down for making history in Lexington. It’s never been done before, but why not now with both Kentucky Wildcats being named preseason candidates for the prestigious honor?

The Jersey Mike’s Naismith Trophy preseason watch list for the 2025-26 Naismith Trophy Player of the Year was announced on Monday, Oweh and Lowe included in the list of 50 players entering the year.

The list of accolades is long for both players, Oweh being tapped to the NABC Division I Player of the Year Award Watch List to go with being named Southeastern Conference Preseason Player of the Year by both the media and the league’s coaches. He also earned preseason All-America distinction by CBS, Blue Ribbon, The Field of 68 and ESPN’s Jay Bilas along with joining the Preseason Watch List for the Jerry West Award, which recognizes the top shooting guard in college basketball. As for Lowe, he is a preseason All-SEC selection and a preseason honoree for the Bob Cousy Award, which honors the nation’s top point guard.

Oweh led the Wildcats in scoring last season at 16.2 points per game with 33 double-digit finishes — including 26 straight to start the season. He set career-best marks in points per game, rebounds per game (4.7), assists per game (1.7), steals per game (1.6), blocks per game (0.5) and free-throw percentage (.776) en route to second-team All-SEC honors.

As for Lowe, he was named to the NABC Second Team All-District and was a third-team All-ACC performer as a sophomore at Pitt after leading the team with 16.8 points per game while adding 5.5 assists, 4.2 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game.

What’s next for the Wildcat duo? History as the first-ever Naismith Men’s Co-Players of the Year.

In all seriousness, it’s a big-time honor only 11 other schools can claim outside of Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats. Well-deserved for the backcourt standouts.

2026 Naismith Trophy Player of the Year – Preseason Watch List

Darius Acuff Jr.	Freshman	Guard	Arkansas
Nate Ament	Freshman	Forward	Tennessee
Robbie Avila	Senior	Center	St. Louis
Solo Ball	Junior	Guard	UConn
Nate Bittle	Senior	Center	Oregon
John Blackwell	Junior	Guard	Wisconsin
Cameron Boozer	Freshman	Forward	Duke
Mikel Brown Jr.	Freshman	Guard	Louisville
Markus Burton	Junior	Guard	Notre Dame
Alex Condon	Junior	Forward/Center	Florida
Ryan Conwell	Senior	Guard	Louisville
Donovan Dent	Senior	Guard	UCLA
Tucker DeVries	Senior	Forward	Indiana
Josh Dix	Senior	Guard	Creighton
A.J. Dybantsa	Freshman	Forward	BYU
Zuby Ejiofor	Senior	Forward	St. John’s
Isaiah Evans	Sophomore	Guard/Forward	Duke
Boogie Fland	Sophomore	Guard	Florida
Ja’Kobi Gillespie	Senior	Guard	Tennessee
P.J. Haggerty	Junior	Guard	Kansas State
Thomas Haugh	Junior	Forward	Florida
Bryce Hopkins	Graduate Student	Forward/Guard	St. John’s
Josh Hubbard	Junior	Guard	Mississippi State
Graham Ike	Graduate Student	Forward	Gonzaga
Tomislav Ivišić	Junior	Center	Illinois
Ian Jackson	Sophomore	Guard	St. John’s
Alex Karaban	Senior	Forward	UConn
Trey Kaufman-Renn	Senior	Forward	Purdue
Xaivian Lee	Senior	Guard	Florida
Yaxel Lendeborg	Graduate Student	Forward	Michigan
Tamin Lipsey	Senior	Guard	Iowa State
Jaland Lowe	Junior	Guard	Kentucky
Nick Martinelli	Senior	Forward	Northwestern
Otega Oweh	Senior	Guard	Kentucky
Koa Peat	Freshman	Forward	Arizona
Darryn Peterson	Freshman	Guard	Kansas
Tahaad Pettiford	Sophomore	Guard	Auburn
Labaron Philon Jr.	Sophomore	Guard	Alabama
Richie Saunders	Senior	Forward	BYU
Emanuel Sharp	Senior	Guard	Houston
Jackson Shelstad	Junior	Guard	Oregon
Braden Smith	Senior	Guard	Purdue
Bennett Stirtz	Senior	Guard	Iowa
Andrej Stojaković	Junior	Guard	Illinois
Bruce Thornton	Senior	Guard	Ohio State
JT Toppin	Junior	Forward	Texas Tech
Joseph Tugler	Junior	Forward	Houston
Milos Uzan	Senior	Guard	Houston
Darrion Williams	Senior	Forward	NC State
Caleb Wilson	Freshman	Forward	North Carolina