Dix Named to Naismith Trophy Watch List

ATLANTA, Ga. – Creighton's Josh Dix is one of 50 men named to the 2025-26 Jersey Mike's Naismith Trophy Men's Player of the Year Watch List, Presented by AXIA Time.

A senior from Council Bluffs, Iowa, Dix enters his first season with Creighton after playing the previous three years at Iowa. He averaged 14.4 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game for the Hawkeyes last season, when he shot 42.2 percent from three-point range and ranked seventh in the Big Ten in field goal percentage (.507). Dix landed Preseason Second Team All-BIG EAST honors two weeks ago in advance of his first season with the Bluejays.

Creighton has now had six men earn a combined 10 spots on the Naismith Trophy Men's Player of the Year Preseason Watch List during Greg McDermott's 16-year tenure on the Bluejay sideline. Doug McDermott was on the Preseason watch list in 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14 and was a finalist in 2012-13 before winning the award in 2013-14. Marcus Foster was named to the Midseason watch list in 2016-17, then made the Preseason and Midseason watch list in 2017-18. Marcus Zegarowski was on the Preseason and Midseason watch list in 2020-21.Ryan Kalkbrenner was on both the Preseason and Midseason watch lists in 2022-23, the Preseason list in 2023-24 and the Preseason, Midseason and Final lists in 2024-25.

Dix is one of six BIG EAST representatives on the list, as he's joined by UConn's Solo Ball and Alex Karaban as well as St. John's Zuby Ejiofor, Bryce Hopkins and Ian Jackson

Creighton opens the regular-season on Wednesday when it hosts South Dakota at 7 p.m.

2025-2026 Jersey Mike's Naismith Trophy
Men's College Player of the Year Watch List
Presented by AXIA Time
Full Name	Class	Position	School	Conference
Darius Acuff Jr.	Freshman	Guard	Arkansas	SEC
Nate Ament	Freshman	Forward	Tennessee	SEC
Robbie Avila	Senior	Center	St. Louis	Atlantic 10
Solo Ball	Junior	Guard	UConn	BIG EAST
Nate Bittle	Senior	Center	Oregon	Big Ten
John Blackwell	Junior	Guard	Wisconsin	Big Ten
Cameron Boozer	Freshman	Forward	Duke	ACC
Mikel Brown Jr.	Freshman	Guard	Louisville	ACC
Markus Burton	Junior	Guard	Notre Dame	ACC
Alex Condon	Junior	Forward/Center	Florida	SEC
Ryan Conwell	Senior	Guard	Louisville	ACC
Donovan Dent	Senior	Guard	UCLA	Big Ten
Tucker DeVries	Senior	Forward	Indiana	Big Ten
Josh Dix	Senior	Guard	Creighton	BIG EAST
A.J. Dybantsa	Freshman	Forward	BYU	Big 12
Zuby Ejiofor	Senior	Forward	St. John's	BIG EAST
Isaiah Evans	Sophomore	Guard/Forward	Duke	ACC
Boogie Fland	Sophomore	Guard	Florida	SEC
Ja'Kobi Gillespie	Senior	Guard	Tennessee	SEC
P.J. Haggerty	Junior	Guard	Kansas State	Big 12
Thomas Haugh	Junior	Forward	Florida	SEC
Bryce Hopkins	Graduate Student	Forward/Guard	St. John's	BIG EAST
Josh Hubbard	Junior	Guard	Mississippi State	SEC
Graham Ike	Graduate Student	Forward	Gonzaga	WCC
Tomislav Ivišic	Junior	Center	Illinois	Big Ten
Ian Jackson	Sophomore	Guard	St. John's	BIG EAST
Alex Karaban	Senior	Forward	UConn	BIG EAST
Trey Kaufman-Renn	Senior	Forward	Purdue	Big Ten
Xaivian Lee	Senior	Guard	Florida	SEC
Yaxel Lendeborg	Graduate Student	Forward	Michigan	Big Ten
Tamin Lipsey	Senior	Guard	Iowa State	Big 12
Jaland Lowe	Junior	Guard	Kentucky	SEC
Nick Martinelli	Senior	Forward	Northwestern	Big Ten
Otega Oweh	Senior	Guard	Kentucky	SEC
Koa Peat	Freshman	Forward	Arizona	Big 12
Darryn Peterson	Freshman	Guard	Kansas	Big 12
Tahaad Pettiford	Sophomore	Guard	Auburn	SEC
Labaron Philon Jr.	Sophomore	Guard	Alabama	SEC
Richie Saunders	Senior	Forward	BYU	Big 12
Emanuel Sharp	Senior	Guard	Houston	Big 12
Jackson Shelstad	Junior	Guard	Oregon	Big Ten
Braden Smith	Senior	Guard	Purdue	Big Ten
Bennett Stirtz	Senior	Guard	Iowa	Big Ten
Andrej Stojakovic	Junior	Guard	Illinois	Big Ten
Bruce Thornton	Senior	Guard	Ohio State	Big Ten
JT Toppin	Junior	Forward	Texas Tech	Big 12
Joseph Tugler	Junior	Forward	Houston	Big 12
Milos Uzan	Senior	Guard	Houston	Big 12
Darrion Williams	Senior	Forward	NC State	ACC
Caleb Wilson	Freshman	Forward	North Carolina	ACC

Players Mentioned

Josh Dix

Ryan Kalkbrenner

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