TUCSON, Ariz. -- Jason Gardner, a giant in talent but short by basketball standards, won a national award Wednesday for players 6 feet and under.

Gardner, the highest-scoring backcourt player in Arizona history, received the 2003 Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award, selected by a panel from the National Association of Basketball Coaches and awarded by the Basketball Hall of Fame.

"It's nice to be included on this list with so many other great players from the past,'' Gardner said.

The 5-foot-10 guard, who started 135 of 136 games, is the first Pac-10 player to win the award for college seniors since Brevin Knight of Stanford in 1997. UCLA's Tyus Edney won in 1995.

Both went on to play in the NBA, along with former recipients like Muggsy Bogues (1987) of Wake Forest, UTEP's Tim Hardaway (1989) and Eastern Michigan's Earl Boykins (1998).

Gardner put his NBA plans on hold last year to play his senior season. He averaged 14.8 points, 4.9 assists and 4.0 rebounds in 32 games, scoring in double figures in 24, and was an all-conference pick for a third year and a second-team All-American.

For his career, Gardner scored 1,984 points and had 622 assists, 462 rebounds and 225 steals. One of only four Pac-10 players to amass 1,500 points, 500 assists and 200 steals, he set school career records for games, starts, minutes (4,825), 3-pointers (318) and 3-pointers attempted (875).

The Pomeroy Naismith award was established in 1969 to honor James Naismith's daughter-in-law.