Gonzaga men’s basketball senior Ryan Nembhard was among 25 players named to the midseason watch list for the 2025 Wooden Award, the Los Angeles Athletic Club announced Tuesday.

With his brilliant playmaking at the start of the 2024-25 season, Nembhard has made a strong case that he will take home serious performances at the end of the season. Through 16 games, he is No. 1 in the country with 153 assists, as he became the first player in Division I to reach 100 assists and the fastest player to reach 100 assists in a season in program history. Nembhard’s assist-to-turnover ratio of 4.03 is fifth best in the country.

Nembhard has recorded double-digit assists on nine different occasions this season, including dishing out a career-high 14 dimes in Gonzaga’s 89-73 win over Indiana in the Battle 4 Atlantis event. This set a tournament record, as did his 39 assists during the three-day event, which was the most by a single player during that period.

Nembhard posted 11.6 points, 9.6 assists and 3.5 rebounds and added 1.8 steals per game. He is shooting 42.9% from the field, 37.5% from 3-point range and 84% from the free throw line. Nembhard is also second in the West Coast Conference in minutes per game (35.7).

“This guy is the mailman,” ESPN college basketball analyst and former coach Seth Greenberg said of Nembhard. “He just delivers. He delivers every time. You’re talking about a guy who makes the game easier for other people.”

Nembhard was added to the 50-player preseason watch list on November 7. He is also in the running for the Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year award and the Naismith Trophy. Players not selected to the midseason list remain eligible for inclusion on the Wooden Award late-season list.

2024-25 Wooden Award Midseason Top 25

Airy “Ace” Bailey, Rutgers
Johni Broome, Auburn
Walter Clayton Jr., Florida
RJ Davis, North Carolina
Hunter Dickinson, Kansas
Eric Dixon, Villanova
Jeremiah Fears, Oklahoma
Cooper Flagg, Duke
Keshon Gilbert, Iowa State
PJ Haggerty, Memphis
Dylan Harper, Rutgers
Josh Hubbard, Mississippi State
Kasparas Jakučionis, Illinois
Tre Johnson, Texas
Kam Jones, Marquette
Ryan Kalkbrenner, Creighton
Alex Karaban, UConn
Chaz Lanier, Tennessee
Ryan Nembhard, Gonzaga
Derik Queen, Maryland
Maxime Raynaud, Stanford
Mark Sears, Alabama
Braden Smith, Purdue
Wade Taylor IV, Texas A&M
Zakai Zeigler, Tennessee