SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Friday announced the preseason watch list for the 2019 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award and UNC Greensboro’s James Dickey is one of 21 players on the list. The honor recognizes the top center in men’s college basketball.

The list will be narrowed down to 10 players in mid-February before five finalists are picked in March by Abdul-Jabbar and a selection committee. The winner of the award will be presented at the fifth annual ESPN College Basketball Awards Show, which will take place in Los Angeles on Friday, April 12.

Dickey, a 6-foot-10 junior out of Raleigh, North Carolina, has appeared in 66 games with 42 starts over his first two seasons with the Spartans. For his career, Dickey has averaged 7.6 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. He also already ranks fifth in program history in total blocks (114).

During his sophomore season in 2017-18, Dickey was named Southern Conference Defensive Player of the Year along with being a second-team All-SoCon selection as he led the conference in total rebounds (8.1), defensive rebounds (5.5) and blocks. His 2.2 blocks per contest ranked 33rd in the nation while Dickey also collected seven double-doubles on the season, including 10 points and 11 rebounds against Gonzaga in UNCG’s first NCAA tournament game in 17 years.

Entering his junior season, Dickey is just nine blocks away from surpassing Jonathan Clifton for the fourth-most blocks in program history and just 29 blocks away from surpassing former teammate R.J. White for the third-most blocks in program history. Kyle Hines is the current leader in the category with 349 career blocks, while Eric Cuthrell has registered the second-most blocks in program history with 183.

UNCG begins its 2018-19 campaign on Tuesday, Nov. 6, against North Carolina A&T at the Corbett Sports Center.