Southland Basketball: Ranking of 25 best players from last decade (2013-23)

6. Zach Nutall

Nutall is a 6’3 guard from Bryan, Texas who got his collegiate start in the Southland at Sam Houston State. He joined the Bearkats back in 2018 and grew into an important role with the program over the next three seasons. Nutall developed into a major force by his junior year before spending his final seasons of eligibility elsewhere.

He came off the bench with decent production as a freshman, but really took a leap as a sophomore, averaging 15.4 points and 4.4 rebounds per game. He helped lead Sam Houston State to a regular season title in that first year, scoring 12 points against TCU in the NIT. He’d open his junior year with a 36-point performance at SMU and would end up averaging 19.3 points per game in a solid season for the Bearkats, who finished 3rd in the Southland.

Nutall earned First Team All-Southland honors for those last two seasons with the Bearkats and was named the league’s Player of the Year as a junior. Sam Houston State won a ton of games during Nutall’s time with the program, and he was the league’s top scorer in that final campaign, with decent numbers across the board. After that third year, Nutall transferred to SMU where he spent his final two seasons in the AAC.