Purdue center Zach Edey was named the Naismith men’s college basketball Player of the Year on Sunday.
Kansas State’s Jerome Tang won Coach of the Year and UCLA guard Jaylen Clark earned Defensive Player of the Year honors.
The Naismith award winners were announced on Sunday in Houston, site of the Final Four.
Edey is the first Canadian to win the award and the second Boilermaker, joining 1994 winner Glenn Robinson.
The 7-foot-4 junior averaged 22.3 points, 12.9 rebounds and 2.1 blocks while leading Purdue (29-6) to Big Ten regular season and tournament championships and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Tang guided Kansas State to the Elite Eight and a 26-10 finish in his first season as a college head coach. He was the Big 12 Coach of the Year.
“I’m honored and blessed to be named the Werner Ladder Naismith Men’s Coach of the Year,” Tang said in a press release. “There have been a lot of great coaching jobs this season, and to be recognized among them is truly a humbling experience for me.”
Clark is the first UCLA player to win Defensive Player of the Year since the award’s introduction in 2018.
The 6-foot-5 junior averaged 13.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.6 steals per game and helped the Bruins win the Pac-12 regular season title and finish 31-6.
–Field Level Media
