NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Captain Nick Townsend of the Yale men's basketball team has been named to the 2025-26 Lou Henson Early Season Watch List.
 
The award is presented annually to the top player in mid-major college basketball. Townsend is one of three Ivy League players on the list. He joins Harvard's Robert Hinton, and Columbia's Kenny Noland.
 
Townsend is having a stellar senior campaign so far for the Bulldogs, leading the team in scoring (16.9 ppg), total assists (56), and rebounds (7.6 rpg). The senior, who has been named both Ivy League Player of the Week and USBWA Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week this season, has tallied double figures in 11 of 12 games for Yale, highlighted by a career-high 32 points on 12-of-19 shooting against the College of Charleston at the Paradise Jam Tournament. Additionally, he has recorded eight or more rebounds in eight games this season and has posted two double-doubles this year and 10 for his career.
 
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 2026 award will be announced in Indianapolis, Ind., site of the men's Division I Basketball Championship.