UCLA's Dent Named to Early Season Wooden Award Watch List
November 18, 2025 | Men's Basketball
LOS ANGELES – UCLA senior Donovan Dent has been named to the preseason top-50 watch list for the John Wooden Award, as announced on Tuesday by the Los Angeles Athletic Club.
The 2025-26 basketball season marks the 50th anniversary of the Wooden Award, as the award's first-ever recipient was then-UCLA senior Marques Johnson, who excelled for the Bruins from 1974-77. The annual award's preseason watch list has been compiled by a poll of national college basketball analysts.
Dent, a 6-foot-2 guard from Riverside, Calif., transferred to UCLA in the summer of 2025 for his senior season. Through three games this year, Dent has averaged 14.7 points, 7.0 assists and 3.0 rebounds per game. Dent secured honorable mention All-America acclaim as a junior at New Mexico last season, averaging team highs in scoring (20.4 ppg) and assists (6.4 apg). Earlier in the preseason, he was named to the watch list for the NABC Division I Player of the Year award.
Through his previous three collegiate seasons, Dent averaged 13.5 points, 2.3 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game. Dent shot 50.3 percent overall in the past three seasons, including 36.8 percent from 3-point range (46-for-125). Dent has scored at least 10 points in 70 career games and has totaled 20 or more points in 27 games. In addition, he has registered at least 10 assists in seven career games – four last year as a junior, and three in 2023-24 as a sophomore. Dent entered his senior season at UCLA having totaled seven career double-doubles, all of the point and assist variety.
At the conclusion of the 2024-25 season, Dent was recognized as an honorable mention All-America selection by the Associated Press (AP). Last season, there were 28 college basketball players who earned All-America or honorable mention All-America honors in 2024-25. Six of those, including Dent, are returning to college in 2025-26 (All-America teams from the A.P., USBWA, NABC and Sporting News).
Preseason Watch List – John Wooden Award
Darius Acuff (Arkansas)
Nate Ament (Tennessee)
Christian Anderson (Texas Tech)
Robbie Avila (Saint Louis)
Solo Ball (UConn)
Nate Bittle (Oregon)
John Blackwell (Wisconsin)
Mikel Brown (Louisville)
Cameron Boozer (Duke)
Markus Burton (Notre Dame)
Alex Condon (Florida)
Donovan Dent (UCLA)
Tucker DeVries (Indiana)
AJ Dybantsa (BYU)
Zuby Ejiofor (St. John's)
Boogie Fland (Florida)
Ja'Kobi Gillespie (Tennessee)
PJ Haggerty (Kansas State)
Thomas Haugh (Florida)
Bryce Hopkins (St. John's)
Josh Hubbard (Mississippi State)
Graham Ike (Gonzaga)
Ian Jackson (St. John's)
Trey Kaufman-Renn (Purdue)
Alex Karaban (UConn)
Xaivian Lee (Florida)
Yaxel Lendeborg (Michigan)
Tamin Lipsey (Iowa State)
Nick Martinelli (Northwestern)
Otega Oweh (Kentucky)
Koa Peat (Arizona)
Darryn Peterson (Kansas)
Tahaad Pettiford (Auburn)
Labaron Philon Jr. (Alabama)
Jayden Quaintance (Kentucky)
Richie Saunders (BYU)
Emanuel Sharp (Houston)
Jackson Shelstad (Oregon)
Braden Smith (Purdue)
Bennett Stirtz (Iowa)
Andrej Stojakovic (Illinois)
Bruce Thornton (Ohio State)
JT Toppin (Texas Tech)
Joseph Tugler (Houston)
Milos Uzan (Houston)
D.J. Wagner (Arkansas)
Darrion Williams (N.C. State)
Caleb Wilson (North Carolina)
