Barcello named to Lute Olson Award Mid-Season Watch List

BOSTON, Mass. – BYU All-American guard Alex Barcello is one 30 men’s basketball players named to the Lute Olson Award Mid-Season Watch List. The award is presented annually to the nation’s top Division I player.

Barcello is scoring a team-high 16.6 points per game for a BYU team that enters the week at 14-3 overall and 2-0 in West Coast Conference play. The 6-foot-2 guard has scored in double figures 14 times this season and is shooting 46.8 percent from the field, 46.7 percent from 3-point range and 88.7 percent from the free throw line.

He was named the West Coast Conference Player of the Week for the first time in his career after scoring 25 points to lead the Cougars to a 32-point victory over then-No. 12 Oregon at the Phil Knight Invitational in Portland, Ore.

The Chandler, Ariz. native recently became the 52nd player in program history to reach 1,000 points, with a 3-pointer in the final seconds of the first half against Pacific. He is BYU’s all-time leader in career 3-point percentage, having made 148-of-384 attempts from beyond the arc.

The award is named in honor of Hall of Fame coach Lute Olson, who won 776 games in 34 seasons, 24 of which were spent at the University of Arizona. During that stretch he led the Wildcats to 11 Pac-10 Conference titles, 23 consecutive NCAA Tournaments, four Final Four appearances and a National Championship in 1997.

The 2022 Lute Olson National Player of the Year Award will be announced on April 1.

Barcello and the Cougars travel to Spokane, Wash. on Thursday, Jan. 13, to take on No. 2 Gonzaga. Tip-off is scheduled for 9 p.m. MST.