Zach Edey headlines B1G's individual honors for 2023-24 season
Zach Edey was officially named Big Ten Player of the Year by the league’s coaches and media on Tuesday.
This is the second year in a row that Edey has won the honor. He’s also the front-runner for National Player of the Year after averaging 24.2 points and 11.7 rebounds per game during the regular season. Edey was also a unanimous first-team All-Big Ten selection, joining Northwestern’s Boo Buie as the only players to earn that distinction.
Zach Edey is your back-to-back @B1GMBBall Player of the Year.
4th player to ever do that. pic.twitter.com/HghpLBzA9w
— Purdue Men's Basketball (@BoilerBall) March 12, 2024
Here’s a breakdown of the individual honors announced by the Big Ten on Tuesday:
- Player of the year: Zach Edey, Purdue
- Coaches of the year: Matt Painter, Purdue; Fred Hoiberg, Nebraska
- Sixth-player of the year: Mason Gilis, Purdue
- Defensive player of the year: Ace Baldwin Jr., Penn State
- Freshmen of the year: Owen Freeman, Iowa; McKenzie Mgbako, Indiana
Edey, Painter and Gilis were not the only Boilermakers to earn some hardware on Tuesday. Guard Braden Smith also earned first-team All-Big Ten honors from both the coaches and media. Smith totaled 13 points and 7.2 assists per contest in his sophomore campaign.
Illinois’ Terrence Shannon Jr. was also named to the 1st team by coaches and media. Maryland’s Jahmir Young (media) and Marcus Domask (coaches) split the final spot on the first-team All-Big Ten squad.
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Here’s a full breakdown of first team and second team All-Big Ten:
First-team all-Big Ten
- Zach Edey, Purdue (coaches and media) | Unanimous
- Boo Buie, Northwestern (coaches and media) | Unanimous
- Terrence Shannon Jr., Illinois (coaches and media)
- Braden Smith, Purdue (coaches and media)
- Jahmir Young (media)
- Marcus Domask (coaches)
Second-team all-Big Ten
- Tyson Walker, Michigan State (coaches and media)
- AJ Storr, Wisconsin (coaches and media)
- Jahmir Young, Wisconsin (coaches)
- Keisei Tominaga, Nebraska (coaches)
- Tony Perkins, Iowa (coaches)
- Marcus Domask, Illinois (media)
- Kel’el Ware, Indiana (media)
- Dawson Garcia, Minnesota (media)
Third-team all-Big Ten
- Kel’el Ware, Indiana (coaches)
- Payton Sandfort, Iowa (coaches and media)
- Dawson Garcia, Minnesota (coaches)
- Rienk Mast, Nebraska (coaches)
- Brooks Barnhizer, Northwestern (coaches)
- Ace Baldwin, Jr., Penn State (coaches and media )
- Coleman Hawkins, Illinois (media)
- Bruce Thornton, Ohio State (media)
Here are the Big Ten’s all-freshmen and all-defense teams, as voted on by the league’s coaches:
Big Ten all-freshman team
- Mackenzie Mgbako, Indiana
- Owen Freeman, Iowa
- DeShawn Harris-Smith, Maryland
- Cam Christie, Minnesota
- John Blackwell, Wisconsin
Big Ten all-defense team
- Kel’el Ware, Indiana
- Brooks Barnhizer, Northwestern
- Ace Baldwin Jr., Penn State
- Zach Edey, Purdue
- Cliff Omoruyi, Rutgers
- Chucky Hepburn, Wisconsin
Purdue head coach Matt Painter and Nebraska head coach Fred Hoiberg were named co-Big Ten coaches of the year. Painter led the Boilermakers to the outright Big Ten title this season while Hoiberg has the Huskers in position to make the NCAA Tournament for just the second time this century. Painter has now won the honor 5 times, tying him with the legendary Bob Knight for the second-most in Big Ten history. Gene Keady won the honor 7 times.
The 2024 Big Ten Basketball Tournament gets underway on Wednesday.