SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Duke junior Grayson Allen was named one of 20 candidates for the 2017 Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award on Tuesday in announcement by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

The award is in its third year recognizing the top player in Division I men’s college basketball at the position played by the legendary West.

A finalist for the West Award a season ago, Allen led Duke with averages of 21.6 points and 3.5 assists per game in 2015-16. He is the lone major-conference player returning in 2016-17 who averaged at least 20 points per game and dished out at least 100 assists last season.

Allen pulled an All-American double as a sophomore, earning a variety of second and third-team honors for his play on the court while also collecting second-team CoSIDA Academic All-America honors. His +17.2-point scoring increase from his freshman to his sophomore seasons (4.4 to 21.6) was an ACC record.

The Jacksonville, Fla., native has played in 71 career games for Duke, making 35 starts, with averages of 13.1 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.0 assists. For his career, Allen is shooting .459 from the floor, .403 from outside the arc and .839 from the free throw line.

He enters his junior season needing just 68 points to become Duke’s 65th 1,000-point scorer.

The West Award committee will narrow its watch list to 10 players by mid-February and a list of five finalists will be announced in March. The winner of the 2017 Jerry West Award will be presented at the ESPN College Basketball Awards Show in Los Angeles on April 7.