SPRINGFIELD, Mass. ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢' ¬" Baylor men's basketball seniors Rico Gathers and Taurean Prince are among 20 players named to the 2016 Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award watch list, as announced Tuesday by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Named after Hall of Famer and two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Karl Malone, the annual honor in its second year recognizes the top power forwards in Division I men's college basketball. A national committee comprised of top college basketball personnel determined the watch list of 20 candidates.

Gathers was named a second-team All-American and a first-team All-Big 12 honoree following his 2014-15 junior season. He led the Big 12 Conference and broke Baylor's single-season rebounding record with 394 boards, and he was the only power-5 conference player to average 11-plus points and 11-plus rebounds per game. The workhorse forward has played in all 109 games during his three years at Baylor, and he started all 37 games a season ago.

Prince was named national and Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year following a breakout junior season in 2014-15. A second-team All-Big 12 honoree, Prince led the team with 13.9 points in just 26.3 minutes per game, and he ranked third in the Big 12 with 15.6 points per game in conference play. Following the season he earned a spot on Team USA for the 2015 Pan American Games, where he started every game and helped the team to a bronze medal.

By mid-February, the watch list of 20 players for the 2016 Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award will be narrowed to just 10. In March, five finalists will be presented to Mr. Malone and the Hall of Fame's selection committee. The winner of the 2016 Karl Malone Award will be presented at the ESPN College Basketball Awards presented by Wendy's from Club Nokia in Los Angeles, CA on Friday, April 8, 2016. Broadcast information will be released at a later date. For more information on the 2016 Karl Malone Award, log onto www.HoophallAwards.com.

The Bears open the 2015-16 season on Nov. 13 when they host Stephen F. Austin at the Ferrell Center. That game will tip off at 8:30 p.m. CT and will air on FOX Sports Southwest-Plus. For season tickets, call the Baylor Athletics Ticket Office at 254-710-1000, or visit www.BaylorBears.com/tickets for more information.

2016 KARL MALONE AWARD WATCH LIST
Rico Gathers, Baylor
Taurean Prince, Baylor
Ivan Rabb, California
Tony Parker, UCLA
Dorian Finney-Smith, Florida
Kyle Wiltjer, Gonzaga
Georges Niang, Iowa State
Perry Ellis, Kansas
Shawn Long, Louisiana-Lafayette
Henry Ellenson, Marquette
Shaq Goodwin, Memphis
Brice Johnson, North Carolina
Beejay Anya, North Carolina State
Ryan Spangler, Oklahoma
Caleb Swanigan, Purdue
Markus Kennedy, SMU
Jameel Warney, Stony Brook
Jordan Loveridge, Utah
Alec Peters, Valparaiso
Anton Grady, Wichita State