(UI news release)
IOWA CITY, Iowa — University of Iowa men’s basketball junior Joe Wieskamp is one of 20 players nationally, and two from the Big Ten Conference, to be named to the 2021 Jerry West Award Watch List.
Named after Hall of Famer and 1959 NCAA Final Four Most Valuable Player Jerry West, the annual honor in its sixth year recognizes the top shooting guards in Division I men’s college basketball. Wieskamp was a semifinalist for the award last season.
Wieskamp (6-foot-6, 212 pounds) was a third-team All-Big Ten and USBWA All-District honoree as a sophomore in 2019-20. He ranked second on the team in points per game (14.0) and rebounds (6.1), and tied for 13th in the Big Ten in 3-pointers made per contest (1.7). The native of Muscatine, Iowa, ranked first in the Big Ten in free throw accuracy (.856) and made his last 22 straight free throw attempts dating back to Feb. 13, 2020. Wieskamp posted three double-doubles, led the team in steals 10 times, and scored 15 points or more 13 times this past season.
The list will be narrowed down to 10 in mid-February and then five finalists will be selected in March that will be presented to Jerry West and the selection committee. The winner of this award will be presented on Friday, April 9, 2021.
Iowa’s Peter Jok was a finalist for the Jerry West Award in 2017.