Three Purdue Basketball Players Named to Wooden Award Midseason Watch List
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The Los Angeles Athletic Club has announced that Purdue's Zach Edey, Jaden Ivey and Trevion Williams are among 25 college basketball players that have been named to the John R. Wooden award midseason watch list.
Ivey and Williams were initially named to the watch list at the start of the season, and now Edey was one of nine players to make their debut on the list. The award annually recognizes the most outstanding men and women's college basketball player.
Purdue is the only program with three representatives on the list, with Duke, Gonzaga and UCLA each having two representatives. Overall, the Big Ten leads all conferences with nine players in the running.
So far this season, Ivey, a sophomore, is averaging 16.5 points, 4.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game. He is the only player in the Big Ten to average 16 points, four rebounds and three assists per game and is shooting 51.7% from the field and 44.8% from 3-point range.
Williams has put up 13.0 points, 8.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game during his senior year while shooting 59.5% from the field in just 20.5 minutes per contest. He is the only player in the nation in the last 15 years to average 13 points, eight rebounds and three assists in under 25 minutes of play per game.
So far, Williams has been named the Big Ten Player of the Week twice, giving him four for his career, the the fifth most in school history.
Edey, a 7-foot-4 sophomore, is averaging 15.6 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game while shooting 70.8% from the field, which ranks second in the country. He has had five games this season of 20 or more points in 20 or fewer minutes, the most nationally for a player since the 2010-11 season.
Here's a look at all the players recognized on the midseason watch list:
John R. Wooden Award Midseason Watch List
- Max Abmas, Oral Roberts
- Ochai Agbaji, Kansas
- James Akinjo, Baylor
- Paolo Banchero, Duke
- Izaiah Brockington, Iowa State
- Kofi Cockburn, Illinois
- Johnny Davis, Wisconsin
- Hunter Dickinson, Michigan
- Zach Edey, Purdue
- Collin Gillespie, Villanova
- Chet Holmgren, Gonzaga
- Jaden Ivey, Purdue
- Trayce Jackson-Davis, Indiana
- Jaime Jaquez Jr., UCLA
- Johnny Juzang, UCLA
- E.J. Liddell, Ohio State
- Benedict Mathurin, Arizona
- Isaiah Mobley, USC
- Wendell Moore Jr., Duke
- Keegan Murray, Iowa
- David Roddy, Colorado State
- Jabari Smith, Auburn
- Drew Timme, Gonzaga
- Oscar Tshiebwe, Kentucky
- Trevion Williams, Purdue
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D.J. Fezler is a staff writer for BoilermakersCountry.com. Hailing from The Region, he is from Cedar Lake in Northwest Indiana and has spent the last two years covering Purdue football and basketball.