KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Missouri Southern men's basketball player
Jaden Taylor was featured on the Bevo Francis Top 100 Watch List for the 2025–26 season, Small College Basketball announced Thursday.
The Clarence "Bevo" Francis Award is presented annually to the player who has had the finest overall season within Small College Basketball. Considerations will be season statistics and individual achievements, awards, personal character and team achievements. This is an incredibly prestigious award, as this award will only be given to one player within Small College Basketball per season.
Taylor leads the Lions in scoring this season, averaging 20.0 points per game which ranks fourth in the MIAA. He is shooting 51 percent from the field and 82 percent on free throws (ninth in the MIAA). Taylor is also averaging 3.4 rebounds per game this season.
The 6-3 senior guard from Memphis, Tennessee, has competed in all 16 games this season with 14 starts. He has finished in double-digits scoring 13 times and notched 20 or more points eight times.
Taylor registered a career-best 37 points, shooting 16-for-25 against Rockhurst on Nov. 25. He also picked up two boards and an assist while going 5-for-5 from the charity stripe.
Taylor has scored 30 or more points three times including most recently posting 32 in an MIAA road matchup at Northeastern State on Dec. 21. He also had a season-best six assists against NSU.
He has distributed 34 assists this season (2.1 apg) which ranks second on Southern in 2025-26.
In MIAA play, he ranks eighth in the league with 17.3 points per game.
Taylor has compiled 320 points in 2025-26 to increase his total as a MSSU Lion to 693. He surpassed 1,000 career collegiate points earlier this season.
Bevo Francis Award
2026 marks the ninth year of the Bevo Francis Award. Past winners include Dominez Burnett of Davenport University in 2016, Justin Pitts of Northwest Missouri State University in 2017, Emanuel Terry of Lincoln Memorial University in 2018, Aston Francis of Wheaton College in 2019, Kyle Mangas of Indiana Wesleyan University in 2020 and Trevor Hudgins of Northwest Missouri State University in 2022. In 2023, RJ Sunahara of Nova Southeastern was named the winner, while in 2024 Elijah Malone of Grace College received the honor. Last year MJ Iraldi was named the 2025 winner. The award was not presented during the 2021 season.
On Feb. 15, the list will be reduced to the Top 50 players. One month later on March 15, the Top 25 players will be announced. On April 4, the finalists of this year's award will be announced, followed by the Bevo Francis Award winner being crowned on April 6.
The Bevo Francis Awards Committee consists of the following coaches: Gary Stewart - Stevenson (Md.), Chris Briggs - Georgetown (Ky.), Mike Donnelly – Florida Southern, Richard Westerlund – Great Lakes Christian, Mark Vanderslice – USC – Aiken, Matt O'Brien – Southwestern (KS), Chris Wright – Langston (OK), Justin Leslie – Midwestern State, Raul Placeres – Maryville College (TN), Chris Martin – Loras (IA), John Lamanna – Whitman (WA), Brian Miller – MSOE, Justin Downer – Point Loma Nazarene, Matt Capell – STAC, Scott Moore – Grace, Keven Bradley – Hillsdale, Mark Rutledge – Southern Arkansas, Chase Tiechmann – Georgia Gwinnett, Mick Hedgepeth – Alabama Huntsville.
