FORT MYERS, Fla. – TCNJ men's basketball's Nick Koch has been named to the Top-25 Watch List for Small College Basketball's Trevor Hudgins Award, the organization announced Sunday.
 
The Trevor Hudgins Award is one of the most prestigious honors available to non-Division I basketball players. Created in 2023, the award is presented annually to the senior who has had the finest overall four-year career within Small College Basketball. Considerations will be overall career statistics and achievements, team achievements, awards, and personal character. The player must have played his entire career at the small college level.

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. The Trevor Hudgins Award is sponsored by Northwest Missouri State University.

The 2026 season marks the third time that the Trevor Hudgins Award will be awarded. In 2024, KJ Jones of Emannuel College was named the inaugural winner. Kaleb Lowery of The Master's received the award in 2025.

On March 1, the list will be reduced to 15 players. The video of the finalists will be released on Saturday, April 4, and the award winner will be announced through a video presentation on Monday, April 6, at halftime of the NCAA Division I National Championship Game. 
 
Koch has authored one of the finest careers ever put forward by a TCNJ men's basketball player. He ranks third in program history in both career points (1,627) and assists (369), and is highly likely to finish second in both categories. A two-time All-NJAC honoree, including a first-team laurel last season, Koch led the Lions to an NJAC championship in 2024, part of the program's first consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances since 1990.
 
This season, Koch leads the NJAC in scoring (21.3 PPG) and ranks second in assists (5.2 APG), and his 104 helpers on the year put him inside the top-15 in Division III. Among active Division III players, he is 7^th in career points and 10^th in assists. Koch also has recorded 322 rebounds and 106 steals for his career, and made his 100^th career 3-pointer in Saturday's win at Ramapo.
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Koch's inclusion on the Trevor Hudgins Award Top-25 Watch List is his second such nod for a major award after he appeared on the Top-100 Watch List for the 2025 Bevo Francis Award, given annually to the top small college basketball in the United States.
 
Arguably one of the best Small College Basketball players ever, Trevor Hudgins led the Northwest Missouri State Bearcats to three consecutive NCAA Division II National championships, the first three-peat in DII history. During his career, Hudgins started 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. During his career, Hudgins led the Bearcats to four straight MIAA regular season championships and finished his career with an astounding record of 131-8.
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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. Hudgins' scoring total ranks him second all-time in Division II basketball history. He was named the MIAA Player of the Year in three straight seasons from 2020 to 2022. In 2022, Hudgins was named the Small College Basketball Bevo Francis Award winner, signifying the top small college basketball player in the United States. In 2022 he was selected by the Houston Rockets of the NBA on a dual contract with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBA G League. He was coached in college by current Iowa head coach Ben McCollum.