BOSTON, Mass. – Bennett Stirtz, the Missouri Valley Conference Larry Bird Player of the Year, has been selected as a finalist for the Lou Henson Award, collegeinsider.com announced on Thursday. The award is presented annually to the top player in mid-major in college basketball.

The junior from Liberty, Missouri, has displayed his outstanding play all season long leading the MVC in points (631 – 19.1 ppg), assists (188 – 5.7 apg) and steals (71 – 2.2 spg). Stirtz also leads the country in minutes played per game at 39.2. This past week, Stirtz led Drake to the MVC Tournament Championship, where he was named the Doug Elgin Award winner as Most Outstanding Player, earning the Bulldogs a bid to the NCAA Tournament.
 
The Lou Henson award honors the former Illinois and New Mexico State head coach who won 775 games in 41 seasons.
 
Coach Henson is the winningest coach in Illinois basketball history with 423 victories. During his 21 seasons (1975-1996), Henson led the Fighting Illini to 16 postseason appearances, including 12 NCAA tournaments and a Final Four appearance in 1989.
 
Henson, who is also the all-time winningest coach in New Mexico State history with 289 victories, is one of only 11 coaches to take two different schools to the NCAA Final Four. His teams have made 19 NCAA appearances and four NIT appearances.
Coach Henson passed away on July 25, 2020.
 
The recipient of the annual award is determined by a 10-member voting committee, which consists of current and former head coaches, as well as two senior staff members of collegeinsider.com.
 
The 2025 award will be announced in San Antonio, TX, site of the men's Division I Basketball Championship.
 
LOU HENSON AWARD FINALISTS
Daniel Batcho            6-11 Sr. Louisiana Tech
Ante Brzovic              6-10 Sr. Charleston
Adam "Budd" Clark   5-10 So. Merrimack
Zach Cleveland         6-7 Jr. Liberty
Oscar Cluff                6-11 Sr. South Dakota State
Tayton Conerway      6-3 Sr. Troy
Mark Freeman          5-11 Sr. James Madison
Javohn Garcia          6-3 Sr. McNeese
Kimani Hamilton       6-8 Jr. High Point
Barrington Hargress 6-0 So. UC Riverside
Jalen Jackson          6-2 Jr. Purdue Fort Wayne
Nate Johnson           6-3 Jr. Akron
Jordan Jones            6-0 Sr. Central Connecticut State
Jacari Lane               6-0 Jr. North Alabama
Bent Leuchten          7-1 Sr. UC Irvine
Augustas Marciulionis 6-4 Sr. Saint Mary's
Jordan Marsh            5-10 So. UNC Asheville
Bez Mbeng                6-4 Sr. Yale
Brian Moore, Jr.        6-2 Sr. Norfolk State
Paulius Murauskas   6-8 So. Saint Mary's
Dominick Nelson      6-5 Jr. Utah Valley
Jacob Ognacevic     6-8 Sr. Lipscomb
Quimari Peterson     6-1 Sr. ETSU
Jaron Pierre Jr.        6-6 Sr. Jacksonville State
John Poulakidas      6-6 Sr. Yale
Matt Rogers             6-9 Sr. American
PJay Smith Jr.          6-0 Sr. Furman
Bennett Stirtz            6-4 Jr. Drake
Marquel Sutton         6-9 Sr. Omaha
Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones 6-6 Sr. UC San Diego
Ray'Sean Taylor        6-1 Sr. SIU Edwardsville
Tyler Tejada              6-9 So. Towson
Malik Thomas           6-5 Sr. San Francisco
Earl Timberlake        6-6 Sr. Bryant
Nick Townsend         6-7 Jr. Yale