Buckeyes Now

Ohio State Junior Forward E.J. Liddell Named To Karl Malone Award Watch List

Liddell is looking to become the first player in school history to win the award, which is given annually to the nation's top power forward.

Andrew Lind

Ohio State junior E.J. Liddell was named on Thursday afternoon as one of 10 watch list players for the Karl Malone Award, which is given annually to the top power forward in men’s college basketball.

A former four-star prospect from Belleville, Ill., Liddell is averaging 19.7 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 2.7 blocks in 18 games for the Buckeyes this season. Only two players in the last 26 years have averaged those numbers over a full season, including former Wake Forest forward Tim Duncan in 1996-97 and former Rider forward Jason Thompson in 2007-08.

Liddell recently became the 60th player in school history to reach 1,000 points for his career and is looking to become the first Ohio State player to win the award, which is named after 14-time NBA All-Star Karl Malone. It was first presented by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame during the 2014-15 season.

Other members of this year’s watch list include Arizona’s Azuolas Tubelis, Auburn’s Jabari Smith, Colorado State’s David Roddy, Duke’s Paolo Banchero, Gonzaga’s Chet Holmgren, Indiana’s Trayce Jackson-Davis, Iowa’s Keegan Murray, LSU’s Tari Eason and USC’s Isaiah Mobley.

The watch list will be narrowed to five finalists in late February, at which time Malone and the Hall of Fame selection committee will choose the winner, who will be announced on a to-be-determined date along with the other four members of the Men’s Starting Five.

-----

Be sure to check out our new message boards, Buckeye Forums. We'd love to have you part of the conversation during the season.

-----

You may also like:

Ohio State-Iowa Game Postponed Due To Travel Issues, Inclement Weather

Former Ohio State Forward Jae’Sean Tate To Play In NBA Rising Stars Tournament

Ohio State To Reopen Concessions At All Athletic Events On Thursday Night

Ohio State Remains At No. 16 In Latest Associated Press Top 25 Poll

Purdue's Jaden Ivey Stings Ohio State At Buzzer Again

Head Coach Chris Holtmann Earns 100th Win As Ohio State Beats Minnesota

-----

Be sure to stay locked into BuckeyesNow all the time!

Join the BuckeyesNow community!
Subscribe to the BuckeyesNow YouTube channel
Follow Andrew on Twitter: @AndrewMLind
Follow BuckeyesNow on Twitter: @BuckeyesNowSI

Like and follow BuckeyesNow on Facebook!

Published
Andrew Lind
ANDREW LIND

Andrew Lind is an Ohio State beat writer and photographer at BuckeyesNow, founder of The Ohio State Uniform Database and the NCAA and NFL writer at SportsLogos.net.

Home/Basketball