TCNJ men’s basketball player Nick Koch has been named to the Top-25 Watch List for Small College Basketball’s Trevor Hudgins Award, according to an announcement made Sunday by the organization.
The Trevor Hudgins Award, established in 2023, is presented annually to a senior who has had the most notable four-year career at the small college level. The award considers overall career statistics and achievements, team success, individual honors, and personal character. Eligible players must have spent their entire careers at small colleges. The award is sponsored by Northwest Missouri State University.
According to the organizers, “The overall intent of the Trevor Hudgins Award is two-fold: 1) To keep the collegiate legacy of Trevor Hudgins alive and continue to tell his story to the next generation, and 2) To provide a national platform to honor outstanding players – and ultimately one player – within Small College Basketball on an annual basis.”
This year marks only the third time that the award will be given. Previous recipients include KJ Jones from Emmanuel College in 2024 and Kaleb Lowery from The Master’s in 2025.
On March 1, the list will be reduced from 25 to 15 players. Finalists’ videos will be released on April 4, with the winner announced via video during halftime of the NCAA Division I National Championship Game on April 6.
Koch has built a notable career with TCNJ men’s basketball. He currently ranks third in program history for both points (1,627) and assists (369), with projections suggesting he may finish second in both categories. Koch has twice earned All-NJAC honors—including first-team recognition last season—and led TCNJ to an NJAC championship in 2024 as part of consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time since 1990.
This season, Koch leads all scorers in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) with an average of 21.3 points per game and ranks second in assists with 5.2 per game; his total of 104 assists places him among Division III’s top fifteen this year. Among active Division III players nationally, he stands seventh in career points and tenth in assists. Over his career he has also tallied 322 rebounds, 106 steals, and surpassed his hundredth three-pointer during Saturday’s win over Ramapo.
Koch’s appearance on this watch list follows his earlier inclusion among candidates for another major distinction: he was previously listed on the Top-100 Watch List for the Bevo Francis Award—an annual honor recognizing America’s top small college basketball player.
The namesake of this award, Trevor Hudgins, played for Northwest Missouri State University where he started every game across four years without missing any contests or suffering a loss during NCAA Tournament play (17-0). He helped lead his team to three consecutive NCAA Division II National championships—the first such streak in DII history—and captured several individual accolades including back-to-back NCAA Division II Player of the Year awards (2021–22), MIAA Player of the Year titles from 2020 through 2022, NWMSU scoring and assist records (finishing with a total of 2,829 points), as well as selection by both NBA’s Houston Rockets and G League affiliate Rio Grande Valley Vipers following graduation.
