BOSTON - Santa Clara men's basketball sophomore guard Christian Hammond is one of 50 players that was named to the 2025-26 Lou Henson Award Early Season Watch List, as announced on Thursday by CollegeInsider.com. The award is presented annually to the top mid-major player in NCAA Division I Men's Basketball. 

The Lou Henson Award honors the former Illinois and New Mexico State head coach who won a combined 775 games over 41 seasons. He is the winningest coach in the history of both Illinois and New Mexico State, and is one of only 11 coaches to take two different schools to the NCAA Final Four. 

The recipient of the annual award is determined by a 10-member voting committee consisting of current and former head coaches, as well as two senior staff members of CollegeInsider.com. The winner will be announced at the end of the season in Indianapolis. 

Hammond is one of just two players from the West Coast Conference on the initial watch list, joining Paulius Murauskas of Saint Mary's. 

Playing in 11 of Santa Clara's first 12 games, Hammond leads the team and is the WCC's fourth-leading scorer at 16.6 points per game. He scored in double figures in 10 consecutive games to open the season, which is the longest such streak since Keshawn Justice (11) and Jalen Williams (18) in 2021-22. The Denver native has logged four 20-point games on the season with a stretch of three-straight such outings, the most by a Bronco since Brandin Podziemski in 2022-23. His season/career high was 27 points on 11-of-17 shooting against Nevada on Nov. 15, and he also logged 20-point outings against Minnesota (20), New Mexico (22) and Arizona State (22).