CHICAGO (November 5, 2018) – Loyola University Chicago's Clayton Custer (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley Northwest/Iowa State) finds himself in select company this preseason, earning a spot on the 2019 Citizen Naismith Trophy Men's Player of the Year Award Watch List which was announced today. The redshirt senior guard, who last year was an Associated Press Honorable Mention All-American and earned Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year recognition, is one of 50 players on the preseason watch list.
 
A list of the midseason 30 team will be released on February 13, followed by the 10 national semifinalists and four finalists on March 4 and March 19, respectively. The 2019 Citizen Naismith Trophy will be awarded at the Naismith Awards Brunch on April 7 during the Final Four in Minneapolis.
 
Custer, the 2018-19 MVC Preseason Player of the Year, was the catalyst for a Loyola team that had a record-setting season in 2017-18. While quarterbacking an ultra-efficient Ramblers offense that ranked third in the nation in field goal percentage, the point guard contributed 13.2 points, 2.2 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.5 steals per game, while shooting 52.8 percent (160-for-303) from the field and 45.1 percent (60-for-133) from three-point land. 
 
Also named the National Jesuit Player of the Year and the Lou Henson Mid-Major Player of the Year last season, Custer guided Loyola to a school-record 32 wins, the program's first-ever MVC regular season and tournament crowns, a NCAA berth for the first time since 1985, and its first Final Four appearance in 55 years.
 
Loyola opens the 2018-19 season tomorrow night when it hosts UMKC at 8 p.m.