Javon Small Named to Midseason Player of the Year Team

Javon Small, West Virginia’s senior point guard, has been named to the Naismith Men’s Player of the Year Midseason Team, announced Friday.

Small was one of four players from the Big 12 named to the 30-person team. The others were Kansas center Hunter Dickinson and Iowa State guards Keshon Gilbert and Curtis Jones.

𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓 𝐉𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐲 𝐌𝐢𝐤𝐞’𝐬 𝐍𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐓𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐲 𝐌𝐞𝐧’𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐞 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐌𝐢𝐝𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐦

🫡 @small_javon pic.twitter.com/8wZbtOBx9X

— WVU Men’s Basketball (@WVUhoops) February 14, 2025

Small is no longer the lone top scorer in the Big 12, now sharing the top spot with UCF’s Keyshawn Hall at 18.5 points per game. He has moved up to third in assists in the conference at 5.5 per game.

Recently opponents have put even more of a defensive focus on limiting Small, and while that has brought his numbers down a bit, it has not affected WVU’s offense as a whole.

“You’ve got to take what they give you and I think Javon’s done that,” WVU coach Darian DeVries said Friday. “In the BYU game, that was as good as our offense has been. I thought Javon did a great job of creating opportunities for our other guys. If defenses want to do it, we have to take what they give us and he’s done a good job of that.”

In WVU’s last two games against Utah and BYU, Small was held to just nine shot attempts. He was still running the offense, however, dishing out eight and nine assists in the two contests. Small has at least seven assists in each of his last four games. He’s also made it to the free throw line 14 times in the last two games, shooting 13-14.

Javon Small and the Mountaineers travel to Baylor tomorrow for the team’s only game against the Bears this season. The teams will tip off in Waco at 2 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on ESPN2.

For a related story, WVU basketball finally drops down to dreaded bubble territory.