LAFAYETTE — JaKeenan Gant has been named a finalist for yet another national award.

The University of Louisiana senior forward has been named a finalist for the 2019 Lou Henson National Player of the Year Award which is presented to the nation’s top mid-major player in Division I basketball.

The award is just the latest accolade for the Ragin’ Cajuns star.

Earlier in the week, Gant was named a finalist for the Lefty Driesell Award which is presented to the nation’s top defensive player. That distinction, which Gant has earned two straight seasons, came a few weeks after the 6-foot-8 forward earned first-team honors on the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division I All-District Teams, earned first-team All-Sun Belt Conference honors and was named the Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Year — a distinction Gant has now earned in back-to-back seasons. 

This past season, Gant finished third in the SBC in scoring (20.5 points), while leading the league in both rebounds (8.7) and blocked shots (2.6) and was second in field goal percentage (.541).

During conference play, Gant’s production increased as the Georgia native averaged 23.1 points per game — third among all SBC players — while finishing second in the league in field goal percentage (.562) and pacing the conference in both rebounds (9.2) and blocked shots (2.2).

Gant was one of three players from the conference to be selected as Driesell Award finalists, the other two being Georgia State’s D’Marcus Simonds and Georgia Southern’s Tookie Brown.

Gant, who began his college career at the University of Missouri, became the 48th player in Ragin’ Cajuns history to reach the 1,000-point scoring mark, and was also only the 10th player in program history to reach the milestone in two years.

Gant has also earned an invite to the prestigious Portsmouth Invitational Tournament.

The annual tournament, held April 17-20 in Portsmouth, Virginia, is an opportunity for 64 selected seniors from across the country to showcase their talents to representatives from every NBA franchise. The entire field of last year’s tournament is either currently playing professionally in the NBA, the G-League or overseas.

Gant helped lead the Ragin’ Cajuns to a 19-13 overall record and a berth in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament at UNO Lakefront Arena in New Orleans.