Two days after being named a finalist for a national award, Louisiana's JaKeenan Gant was named to a second list as he was named a finalist for the 2019 Lou Henson National Player of the Year Award which was announced by CollegeInsider.com on Wednesday.

The Lou Henson Award is presented annually to the nation's top mid-major player in Division I College Basketball.

The selection of Gant, a two-time Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Year, was the second for the senior after he was named on Monday as a finalist for the Lefty Driesell Award, presented to the nation's top defensive player.

As a senior during the 2018-19 season, Gant finished third in the Sun Belt Conference in scoring (20.5), led the league in both rebounds (8.7) and blocked shots (2.6) and was second in field goal percentage (.541). He finished the season as the lone Division I player to average 20 points, eight rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game during the season.

During SBC play, Gant averaged 23.1 points per game – third among all SBC players – while finishing second in the league in field goal percentage (.562) and pacing the conference in both rebounds (9.2) and blocked shots (2.2).

Earlier this season, the 6-foot-8 forward became the 48th player in school history to reach the 1,000-point scoring mark, and was the 10th player in school history to reach the milestone in two years.

Gant was one of three Sun Belt Conference players to be selected as finalists on the 36-player list, joining Georgia State's D'Marcus Simonds and Tookie Brown of Georgia Southern.

Lou Henson coached 41 years. When he left the game in 2005 he was sixth all-time in career Division I wins with 779. He is the winningest coach at both Illinois and New Mexico State. He is one of only 12 coaches in the history of the game to take two schools to the Final Four.

The 2019 Lou Henson Award will be presented at the College Insider awards event in April at the site of the men's division I national championship in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

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