The Atlanta Tipoff Club announced Wednesday that Penn State graduate student Ace Baldwin Jr. was named to the 15-person watch list for the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Watch List.
Baldwin Jr. is the lone representative from the Big Ten to be named to the list.
The fifth-year guard is the reigning Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year after a season in which he averaged a league-high 2.7 steals (fourth in the nation) and had the fifth-most total steals (88). He currently is third in the conference in steals per game (2.0) and total steals (43).
Baldwin Jr. is the NCAA’s active career lead in steals with 314 and is just six steals away from breaking into the top 30 all-time in the NCAA record book for career steals.
He is the only active Division I player with career marks of 1,500-plus points (1,604), 700-plus assists (787) and 300-plus (314) steals.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.Baldwin Jr. has already been named to multiple other watch lists including the U.S. Basketball Writers Association Oscar Robertson Trophy and Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Award.
The other candidates, along with Baldwin Jr., can be found below:
Ace Baldwin Jr. – Penn State
Johni Broome – Auburn
Lamont Butler – Kentucky
Cooper Flagg – Duke
Hayden Gray – UC San Diego
Ryan Kalkbrenner – Creighton
Tamin Lipsey – Iowa State
Jahmai Mashack – Tennessee
Cameron Matthews – Mississippi State
Stevie Mitchell – Marquette
Clifford Omoruyi – Alabama
Jayden Quaintance – Arizona State
Kadary Richmond – St. John’s
Joseph Tugler – Houston
Zakai Zeigler – Tennessee
Penn State will begin a five-day West Coast trip Saturday at UCLA. Tipoff is scheduled for 4 p.m.
