Gary Payton II is still alive for college basketball's national player of the year award.
The Oregon State senior guard was on the Wooden Award's late-season list of 20 players, which was cut down from the 25-player list released in January. Among the cuts from the midseason list were Arizona senior forward Ryan Anderson and Gonzaga sophomore forward Domantas Sabonis.
Payton, who is averaging 16.5 points, 7.9 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 2.4 steals per game, joined fellow Pac-12 Player of the Year candidate and Utah sophomore Jakob Poeltl on the updated list.