WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Purdue's Caleb Swanigan has announced that he will return to Purdue for his sophomore season he announced before Wednesday's deadline.
"The NBA is right there and always will be, but you always have to have patience and do what's best for you," Swanigan said earlier this week.
"We are excited that Biggie has withdrawn from the NBA Draft and will return to Purdue," head coach Matt Painter said. "He has the potential to make a huge jump from his freshman season and will be a big part of what we do next year. He received great experience going through this process and will use the feedback he received to make him a more diverse player."
Swanigan, a 6 foot 9, 250-pound forward from Fort Wayne, Indiana, was one of the nation's top freshman during the 2015-16 season. He was named to the Big Ten's All-Freshman Team after averaging 10.2 points, 8.3 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game in 34 contests. He won a league-best, three Big Ten Freshman of the Week (tied with Wisconsin's Freshman of the Year Ethan Happ) accolades and was a finalist for the Wayman Tisdale Award given to the nation's top freshman.
Swanigan finished his freshman season being 1-of-3 freshmen nationally with 325 points, 275 rebounds, 60 assists and 20 made 3-pointers. He finished the year eighth on the Purdue freshman scoring list (348), first in rebounds (282), first in rebound average (8.3), sixth in field goals made (130), eighth in field goal attempts (282), first in games started (34), sixth in minutes played (875) and first in double-doubles (8).
Yesterday, rising junior Vince Edwards announced that he will return to Purdue for the 2016-17 season. Swanigan's return gives Purdue three returning starters (Edwards, Swanigan, P.J. Thompson), in addition to several key pieces off the bench, including Isaac Haas, Dakota Mathias, Ryan Cline and Basil Smotherman, as well as newcomers Spike Albrecht and Carsen Edwards.
With the return of Swanigan, Purdue boasts one of the best frontcourts in college basketball.
Purdue went 26-9 a year ago, including 12-6 in the Big Ten standings. The Boilermakers were 1-of-10 teams nationally to be ranked in the top 25 in every poll a year ago.
