Emory University men's basketball senior Ben Pearce added to his resume over the weekend as he was named to the Top 15 Watch List for the 2026 Trevor Hudgins Award as presented by Small College Basketball.
The Trevor Hudgins Award is awarded to the senior who has had the best overall four-year (or 5-year) career within Small College Basketball. Considerations for the Trevor Hudgins Award are overall career statistics and achievements, team achievements, awards, and personal character. The player must have played his entire career at the small college level. This is the highest award given to a four-year (or five-year) player within Small College Basketball with 2026 marking the third-annual presentation of the award.
The award is named in honor of Northwest Missouri State's Trevor Hudgins, who had a historic career with the Bearcats. He led the Bearcats to three consecutive NCAA Division II National Championships. During his career, Hudgins started in every game and never missed one. He also never lost an NCAA Tournament game, leading the Bearcats to a remarkable 17-0 record in the NCAA Division II National Tournament. Hudgins was named the NCAA Division II Player of the Year in back-to-back seasons in 2021 and 2022. He holds both the NWMSU scoring and assists records and finished his career with 2,829 points, which ranks first all time in the 110-year history of the MIAA.
Pearce along with classmate Jair Knight were tabbed to the Top 25 Watch List for the award in early February. Now Pearce is one of six Division III players remaining on the Top 15 Watch List. Award finalists will be announced on April 4th with the winner unveiled on April 6th.
Since being named to the Top 25 Watch List on February 2nd, Pearce has rewrote the Emory record books. He became the all-time leading scorer in Emory men's basketball history on February 22nd with a career-high 37-point outing at Carnegie Mellon University. He then set the all-time three-pointer record on Saturday, passing Romin Williams for first place on the all-time list with 248. He is 50 points away from 2,000 in his storied career and stands third in Emory history with 576 career assists, sitting four away from second place all-time and 54 away from breaking the record.
Furthermore, Pearce is the all-time record holder in scoring average, minutes played and games started and is top-10 all-time in field goals and free throws made and steals. He has led the Eagles to three NCAA tournament berths in his career as well as the team's first University Athletic Association title since 2022 this past Saturday.
For more information regarding the Trevor Hudgins Award, please click here: https://www.smallcollegebasketball.com/trevor-hudgins-award
