Tonie Morgan (UK Athletics Photo)
Kentucky has two players on the preseason watch list for the best point guard in the nation.
Jaland Lowe is on the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame’s preseason watch list for the 2026 Bob Cousy Award on Monday while Kentucky’s women’s point guard Tonie Morgan is on the Nancy Lieberman Point Guard of the Year Preseason Top 20 Watch List.
Lowe, a Pittsburgh transfer, missed UK’s win over preseason No. 1 Purdue with a shoulder injury but should be ready when regular season play starts next week — or might even play in Thursday’s exhibition game against Georgetown.
Lowe is a preseason all-Southeastern Conference second team pick and was a third-team all-Atlantic Coast Conference performer as a sophomore at Pitt when he led the Panthers in scoring at 16.8 points per game. He also added 5.5 assists, 4.2 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game. He was one of just eight players in the nation to average at least 16.5 points, 4.0 boards and 5.5 assists per game a season ago.
Lowe had five or more assists in 19 games and has just the sixth triple-double in program history as a sophomore with 11 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in a win at VMI.
Tyler Ulis in 2016 is the only Kentucky player ever to win the Cousy Award.
Other SEC players on the 20-player watch list are Alabama’s Labaron Philon, Arkansas’ Darius Acuff, Auburn’s Tahaad Pettiford, Florida’s Boogie Fland, Mississippi State’s Josh Hubbard and Tennessee’s Ja’Kobi Gillespie.
Morgan played three seasons at Georgia Tech making 95 starters. She had 1,261 points, 543 rebounds, 468 assists and 116 steals for Tech and was a three-time all-ACC selection.
Her 4.9 career assists per game ranked 12th among active NCAA Division I women’s basketball players at the conclusion of 2024-25 season. She was one of only three non-seniors in that top 12.
The UK transfer averaged 13.7 points, 4.5 rebounds, 5.6 assists and 1.0 steals per game as a junior and shot 48.9 percent from the field.
Georgia Tech went 22-11 last season and beat three Associated Press Top 25 teams.
Like Lowe, she also had a triple-double — 14 assists, 12 points, 12 rebounds — last season. She was the first Georgia Tech player to do that since 2002.
Morgan was ranked as the 24th-ranked prospect out of high school by ESPN Hoopgurlz and has been projected as a top 10 pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft.
