Kent State men’s basketball forward Jimmy Hall was announced as a finalist for the 2015 Riley Wallace Award on March 31.

 The award is presented by CollegeInsider.com and is given to the nation’s top transfer Division I college basketball player throughout the season.

 “This is a great honor for Jimmy, and I am happy that he is being recognized on the national level,” coach Rob Senderoff said in a press release.

 Hall, a redshirt sophomore, led the Flashes to a 23-12 record, 12-6 in the Mid-American Conference, and averaged a team-high 15.9 points and 7.7 rebounds.

 “I would expect him to continue to get nominated for awards as his career moves on because he’s a good player,” Senderoff said. “He got to work twice as hard this spring and summer because he came out of nowhere, nobody knew who he was. This year he was circling his calendar to play against the best players in our conference, now the new batch of guys is going to be circling their calendars to play against him.”

Hall is the first Kent State sophomore since the 1976-77 season to be named first team All-MAC and also the second team All-District 14 of the National Association of Basketball Coaches.

 The award is named after the former head coach of Hawaii. Wallace coached many transfer students during his time there and is the program’s all-time leader in wins.

 The winner of the award will be announced at the CollegeInsider.com Awards Banquet on April 3 in Indianapolis.