Jaden Ivey Voted First-Team All-American by NABC
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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue sophomore guard Jaden Ivey was voted a first-team All-American by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), the organization announced today.
The NABC is one of four entities that make up the All-American awards, joined by the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA), the Associated Press and the Sporting News. He was named a second-team honoree by the Sporting News and Associated Press. A player is considered a consensus All-American if named to all four lists.
Ivey becomes the third first-team All-American under head coach Matt Painter (JaJuan Johnson, Caleb Swaningan) and is just the second underclassmen (freshman or sophomore; Swanigan) to be named a first-team All-American in any of the four major services in the last 92 years (John Wooden was consensus All-American as a sophomore in 1930).
Ivey has led the Boilermakers to a 27-7 record and a No. 3 seed in this week’s NCAA Tournament. The 6-foot, 4-inch South Bend, Indiana, native is averaging 17.4 points, 4.9 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game while also adding 31 steals and 19 blocked shots. He is one of just two players nationally (Duke’s Paolo Banchero) with 575 points, 150 rebounds, 100 assists, 30 steals and 15 blocked shots.
He was named a finalist for the Jerry West Award and named to the Big Ten All-Tournament Team after averaging 19.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game in Indianapolis.
Ivey has played his best against ranked teams, averaging 19.3 points, 5.4 rebounds and 4.6 assists in eight games. He was outstanding in a win over No. 18 North Carolina with 22 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, then added 10 points, seven rebounds and seven assists against No. 5 Villanova.
He then had one of the signature moments of the college basketball season in an 81-78 win over No. 16 Ohio State, hitting a fadeaway 25-footer as the clock expired for the buzzer-beating victory. Three games later, he tallied 26 points with six assists and four rebounds to finish a season sweep of Illinois. He also had 25 points with four assists in a big win over a Rutgers team that had won four straight games against nationally-ranked teams.
Ivey tied a school record for most 3-pointers made without a miss with a 6-of-6 performance against Butler in the final edition of the Crossroads Classic.
Ivey has scored in double-figures in 31 of his 33 games played (missed one game with an injury) and has a team-best 13 games of 20 or more points, including double-doubles against North Carolina (22 points, 10 rebounds) and Minnesota (21 points, 10 rebounds).
The Boilermakers will face Yale in Friday’s NCAA Tournament first-round contest in Milwaukee.