Milwaukee City Wire

AJ McKee, a player for the Milwaukee men's basketball team, has been included in the Lou Henson 'Early Season' Watch List. This announcement was made on Tuesday by the organization responsible for the award.

The Lou Henson Award is given annually to the best player in mid-major college basketball. McKee joined Milwaukee after an impressive stint at Queens University, where he was a three-year starter and led his team in scoring during the 2023-24 season with an average of 18.8 points per game. He also contributed 4.0 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 1.7 steals per game. In the Atlantic Sun Conference, he ranked third in scoring and became only the seventh player in program history to surpass 1,500 career points, entering this season with a total of 1,586 points. Currently, through four games with Milwaukee, McKee is averaging a team-leading 15.3 points per game while shooting 44.9 percent from the field.

The last player from Milwaukee's program to make it onto this watch list during a season was Matt Tiby in the 2015-16 campaign. McKee is one of two players from the Horizon League on this year's list; Wright State's Brandon Noel also received recognition.

The Lou Henson Award honors Coach Lou Henson who had an illustrious career coaching Illinois and New Mexico State teams to numerous victories over his tenure of 41 seasons and amassing a total of 775 wins. He remains Illinois' all-time winningest coach with 423 victories and took his teams to several postseason appearances including NCAA tournaments and one Final Four appearance in 1989.

Henson also holds records as New Mexico State's all-time winningest coach with 289 victories and is among only eleven coaches who have led two different schools to NCAA Final Four appearances. His coaching legacy includes guiding teams to nineteen NCAA appearances and four NIT appearances before he passed away on July 25, 2020.

A committee comprising ten members—current and former head coaches along with senior staff members from collegeinsider.com—determines the recipient of this prestigious annual award which will be announced next year in San Antonio, Texas during the men's Division I Basketball Championship.