College Notebook

Grayson Allen named a Jerry West Award candidate

– Duke junior Grayson Allen was named one of 20 candidates for the 2017 Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award on Tuesday in announcement by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

The award is in its third year recognizing the top player in Division I men’s college basketball at the position played by the legendary West.

A finalist for the West Award a season ago, Allen led Duke with averages of 21.6 points and 3.5 assists per game in 2015-16. He is the lone major-conference player returning in 2016-17 who averaged at least 20 points per game and dished out at least 100 assists last season.

Allen pulled an All-American double as a sophomore, earning a variety of second and third-team honors for his play on the court while also collecting second-team CoSIDA Academic All-America honors. His +17.2-point scoring increase from his freshman to his sophomore seasons (4.4 to 21.6) was an ACC record.

The Jacksonville, Fla., native has played in 71 career games for Duke, making 35 starts, with averages of 13.1 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.0 assists. For his career, Allen is shooting .459 from the floor, .403 from outside the arc and .839 from the free throw line.

He enters his junior season needing just 68 points to become Duke’s 65th 1,000-point scorer.

The West Award committee will narrow its watch list to 10 players by mid-February and a list of five finalists will be announced in March. The winner of the 2017 Jerry West Award will be presented at the ESPN College Basketball Awards Show in Los Angeles on April 7.

Duke: Five-time NBA Champion and new USA Basketball head coach Gregg Popovich will join Coach K on the opening episode of ‘Basketball and Beyond’ Thursday at 6 pm on SiriusXM College Sports Nation (channel 84).

Wake Forest: The team swept the finals of the ITA Carolina Regional on Tuesday, with Skander Mansouri claiming the singles title and also teaming with Christian Seraphim to win the doubles championship. With the wins, three Deacs have locked up a spot in the USTA/ITA National Indoor Championships in Flushing Meadows, N.Y., from Nov. 3-6. Petros Chrysochos already clinched a singles berth in that event with his performance at the ITA All-American Championships.

Elon: Salvador Mijares and Neal Port defeated the 33rd ranked doubles team in the nation and advanced to the quarterfinals of the doubles draw, highlighting the team’s competition at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Carolina Regionals from Oct. 14-18.

UNC: Robert Kelly and Josh Peck reached the doubles final at the USTA/ITA Carolina Regional before falling Tuesday to the top seeded team, Wake Forest’s Skander Mansouri and Christian Seraphim, 7-6(4), 3-6, 1-0(4).

NC State: Following a record-breaking performance at the program’s first home match in nearly a decade, the NC State rifle team has jumped five spots in the Collegiate Rifle Coaches Association (CRCA) polls to No. 8, as announced by the organization. It is the Wolfpack’s highest ranking in the polls since 1982 when the squad advanced to the NCAA Championships with an identical listing.

Wake Forest: Junior captain Maddie Huster tallied an assist and anchored a back line which limited Boston College to a season-low two shots on goal. Huster was named the ACC Defensive Player of the Week for her efforts against Boston College, the league announced Tuesday.

Duke: Senior Christina Gibbons received ACC Co-Offensive Player of the Week after helping lead the fourth-ranked Blue Devils to a 1-0 win over fifth-ranked Virginia over the weekend.

Wake Forest: Hayden Partain’s second goal of the season proved to be enough for the second-ranked Demon Deacons in its 1-0 road win against No. 21 South Carolina as the team closed out 2016 non-conference play Tuesday night. The victory marks the 11th win of the season for the Deacs, which now stands at 11-2-2 overall.

Mount Olive: The team defeated Chowan University 3-0 Monday night in non-conference men’s soccer.

Campbell/Duke: Campbell’s Pepe Rangel registered his third goal of the season and Josh Signey added a late score, but the Campbell men’s soccer team surrendered three first half goals and suffered a 3-2 defeat by Duke on Tuesday night.

NC State: The team steps outside of Atlantic Coast Conference play for the final time this season on Wednesday evening, traveling southeast to compete at No. 26 UNCW. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. from UNCW Soccer Stadium. The Wolfpack holds a 19-3-1 lead in the series.

Duke: The team moved back up to No. 2 in the Penn Monto/NFHCA Division I Coaches Poll Tuesday following a weekend that included two Top 20 wins on the road. The Blue Devils jumped two spots in the rankings after earning a 2-1 victory at No. 17 Wake Forest and a 5-1 win at No. 19 Old Dominion.

Elon: Jake Leavitt finished tied for first individually and the Phoenix finished third, as the team completed play at the second-annual Elon Phoenix Invitational Tuesday at Alamance Country Club. Leavitt shared the individual title with George Mason’s Eric Edwards and North Carolina’s Jose Montano at 10-under par. The individual title is Leavitt’s first of his career.

ECU: Freshman Blake Taylor shot a career-low 8-under-par 205 to lead the team to a fourth-place finish at the Phoenix Invitational Tuesday. The Pirates carded a three round total of 2-under-par 850 (283-284-283) at the par-71, 6,867-yard Alamance Country Club to close out their fall season. They finished in the top five in each of their final four events of the fall.

Mount Olive: The team finished 12th out of 15 teams at the Phoenix Invitational.

Campbell: Nadine White tied for 12th individually and the team finished eighth in the team standings following Tuesday’s final round of the Greenville Regional Preview women’s golf tournament at Brook Valley Country Club.

Mount Olive: The team finished 10th out of 13 teams at the St. Leo Invitational in Saint Leo, Fla.

St. Augustine’s: Sandy Chapman was named CIAA Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Week. Under his direction, the SAU men finished first among three CIAA teams and second overall at the Blue Bear Invitational in Salisbury. St Aug.’s Shaquille Dill ran the fastest time among CIAA runners and placed third overall.

Elon: For the third time this season, sophomore Nick Ciolkowski was selected as the Colonial Athletic Association Runner of the Week, according to Tuesday’s news release.

Shaw: The team continued its winning track with a 3-0 victory over Livingstone College Tuesday evening. The Lady Bears logged 25-9, 25-14 and 25-20 victories. The wins improve the Lady Bears’ overall season record to 14-5, 11-0 in conference play and 5-0 within the division.

Mount Olive: The team dropped a four-set match to Fayetteville State University in a non-conference match Tuesday evening. The Trojans return home for a pair of non-conference matches on Saturday in Kornegay Arena against Virginia State University and Coker College.

Campbell: After leading the Camels to a dual win at Florida Atlantic, Michelle Case has been named the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association’s Female Swimmer of the Week. The CCSA weekly award is the fourth of Case’s career, passing former Camel Kylie Warne for the most in Campbell history.

ECU: Freshman Grega Popovic has been named American Athletic Conference Male Swimmer-of-the-week, the league announced on Tuesday.

Duke: Redshirt junior Jake Faust will begin the 2016-17 wrestling season ranked 14th at 165 pounds in InterMat’s preseason Division I wrestling rankings. He recently was tabbed eighth in the FloWrestling preseason poll.

NC State: Two-time NCAA Champion and three-time finalist Nick Gwiazdowski of NC State will be the guest speaker at the 3rd Annual Carolina Coaches Breakfast in the Farmer’s Market Restaurant at 10 a.m. in Raleigh Wednesday. Gwiazdowski had the longest winning streak in the country last year at 88 straight wins. The CCB is an event for head coaches to talk about their team, a way to help grow wrestling in North Carolina and share ideas to improve the sport.

Durham Sports Club: Bryan Kersey, Director of Basketball Officials for the Atlantic Coast Conference, will be the guest speaker at the Durham Sports Club this Wednesday at noon at the Croasdaile Country Club. Meetings are open to the public. Visitors are charged $25, which includes lunch and the guest speaker’s presentation.

Raleigh Sports Club: The guest speaker Wednesday will be Duke football coach David Cutcliffe, the 2013 National Coach of the Year who has earned ACC and SEC Coach of the Year honors in a distinguished career that includes mentoring Super Bowl MVP quarterbacks Peyton and Eli Manning. The meeting will be in Bradley Hall in Highland UMC, 1901 Ridge Road. Buffet lines open at 11:30 a.m., and the meeting is noon to 1 p.m. Member attendance is $15; guest fee is $25.

Duke: The Joanne P. McCallie Radio Show for the 2016-17 campaign will air from 7-8 p.m., at Tobacco Road Sports Café in Durham. The show will feature eight total dates for the season beginning with the first show on Nov. 9. Other confirmed dates include Nov. 21, Dec. 6, Dec. 14, Jan. 9, Jan. 17, Feb. 7 and Feb. 14.

From news releases

This story was originally published October 18, 2016 at 11:30 PM with the headline "College Notebook."