It was recently announced that Texas SF Dailyn Swain, who's been on an absolute tear in the SEC, has been named to an incredibly prestigious positional award watchlist.
Along with nine other top collegiate small forwards, Swain was selected for the midseason top 10 list for the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award. It's the award given to the nation's top small forward.
2026 Julius Erving Award candidates
Tounde Yessoufou - Baylor
AJ Dybantsa - BYU
Thomas Haugh - Florida
Milan Momcilovic - Iowa State
Ryan Conwell - Louisville
Andrej Stojakovic - Illinois
Coen Carr - Michigan State
Dailyn Swain - Texas
Nate Ament - Tennessee
Chad Baker-Mazara - USC
watch out for Dailyn Swain 🤘#HookEm | #ErvingAward pic.twitter.com/ygO1dSTEUG
— Texas Men’s Basketball (@TexasMBB) February 4, 2026
Swain has been one of the top players in all of college basketball this season after following Sean Miller to Texas in 2025. The duo came from Xavier with big plans for the Longhorns this year, and though it hasn't necessarily come to fruition yet, the team has been much improved from last season.
Swain's currently averaging 17.7 PPG, 7.3 RPG, 3.4 APG, 1.8 SPG, and shooting 57.7% from the floor. Though these are definitely above-average overall stats for the position, his production against SEC teams has even more impressive in the 2025/2026 season.
Heading into the South Carolina game, he was averaging 25.8 PPG, 7.3 RPG, 3.8 APG, 2.5 SPG, and 64.9% shooting. Very few players have been that productive in conference play this year, and he's been incredibly consistent in terms of his overall shot selection and rebounding.
It'll be incredibly interesting to see where he finishes the season, and if he can sustain this type of productivity and effectiveness over the final eight games of the year.