SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – UVM men's basketball senior forward Anthony Lamb has been named to the 2020 Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award Watch List. The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame made the announcement on Wednesday afternoon.

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Named after Class of 1993 Hall of Famer and 16-year professional basketball player Julius Erving, the annual honor in its sixth year recognizes the top small forwards in Division I men's college basketball. A national committee of top college basketball personnel determined the watch list of 20 candidates. The Rochester, New York native is joined by Harvard's Seth Towns as the only mid-major players to make the list. 

This list will be narrowed down to 10 student-athletes in mid-February and then five finalists will be selected in March that will be presented to Julius Erving and the selection committee. The winner will be presented at the sixth annual ESPN College Basketball Awards Show live from Los Angeles, California on Friday, April 10. 

Lamb is the reigning America East Player of the Year after leading the conference in field goals (242), points (678), points per game (21.2), rebounds per game (7.8). The 6-6 forward was also named to the America East All-Conference First Team and America East All-Championship Team.
 
The Rochester, New York native became the seventh two-time winner of the Reggie Lewis Most Outstanding Player in America East history after tallying 28 points in the conference title game against third-seeded UMBC. Lamb was only the sixth player in conference history to be named Player of the Year and Most Outstanding Player while winning a regular season title and a conference championship. He also earned USBWA District I (New England) Player of the Year, USBWA All-District I Team, NABC All-District I First Team, and Associated Press Honorable Mention All-America honors to conclude the 2018-19 campaign.
 
As a junior, Lamb's 678 points is the third-highest single-season total in program history, behind only Taylor Coppenrath '05 (777 in 2004-05) and Eddie Benton '96 (687 in 1993-94). He scored 42 points against St. Bonaventure on Dec. 18, 2018 - the fourth-highest single-game total ever by a Catamount.
 
The Catamounts will kick off the 2019-20 season against Brown on Saturday (Oct. 26) at 7 p.m. Before the game, Vermont will be retiring the jerseys of Taylor Coppenrath '05 and T.J. Sorrentine '05 from the legendary 2004-05 team that upset fourth-seeded Syracuse for the program's first NCAA Tournament win. Tickets are available for purchase for the historic night by clicking here. All proceeds from the game will be donated to the Vermont Disaster Recovery Fund (VDRF). 

National Life Group is the presenting sponsor of the 2019-20 Vermont men's basketball season

2020 Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award Candidates
Josh Green, Arizona
Matthew Hurt, Duke
Scottie Lewis, Florida
Corey Kispert, Gonzaga
Seth Towns, Harvard
Xavier Sneed, Kansas State
Kahlil Whitney, Kentucky
Jordan Nwora, Louisville
Precious Achiuwa, Memphis
Tres Tinkle, Oregon St.
Alpha Diallo, Providence
Nojel Eastern, Purdue
LJ Figueroa, St. John's
Elijah Hughes, Syracuse
Chris Clarke, Texas Tech
Anthony Lamb, Vermont
Saddiq Bey, Villanova
Jaden McDaniels, Washington
CJ Elleby, Washington State
Naji Marshall, Xavier