Malone Award
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - National Player of the Year candidate Caleb Swanigan was named 1-of-5 finalists for the Karl Malone Award, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced today.
Given to the nation's top power forward, Swanigan is joined on the list by Arizona's Lauri Markkanen, Baylor's Johnathan Motley, Notre Dame's Bonzie Colson and UCLA's T.J. Leaf.
The winner will be announced April 7, in Los Angeles, California, as part of the College Basketball Awards show. The winner of this award will be determined by a combination of fan votes and input from the Basketball Hall of Fame's selection committee. By visiting hoophallawards.com, fans have the ability to vote for who they think should win. The voting opens on Friday, March 10 and will run until Friday, March 24.
The favorite to win the award, Swanigan is a likely consensus All-American after averaging 18.7 points, 12.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game in leading Purdue to its 23rd Big Ten championship.
Caleb Swanigan
- 1-of-5 finalist for the Karl Malone Award given to nation's top power forward.
- USBWA District V Player of the Year and first-team All-District.
- Became Purdue's fourth Big Ten Player of the Year honoree.
- Yesterday, Swanigan was named a first-team All-American by USA Today, Sporting News and NBC Sports.
- Six-time recipient of Big Ten Player of the Week, the second most in Big Ten history behind Ohio State's Evan Turner (2010).
- Averaged 18.9 points, 12.6 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game in league games only. Also finished 11th in field goal percentage, 10th in free throw percentage, third in 3-point percentage and sixth in offensive rebounds per game.
- Became the eighth player in Big ten history to lead the league in scoring (18.9 PPG) and rebounding (12.6 RPG), joining Ohio State's Evan Turner (2010), Minnesota's Kris Humphries (2004), Purdue's Glenn Robinson (1994), Minnesota's Mychal Thompson (1978), Indiana's George McGinnis (1971), Ohio State's Gary Bradds (1964) and Michigan's M.C. Burton(1959).
- He is one of only four Big Ten players to lead the league in scoring and win an outright Big Ten championship (Swanigan, Purdue's Glenn Robinson, Ohio State's Evan Turner and Jim Jackson).
- His 227 rebounds in Big Ten play were the most in Big Ten play since Michigan's Rudy Tomjanovich had 227 in 1970.
- Swanigan leads the country in double-doubles with 25, just one shy of the all-time Big Ten record set by Ohio State's Jerry Lucas (1960, 1961, 1962) and Brad Sellers (1986). One more double-double will tie him for 26th in NCAA history.
- In games that Swanigan produces a double-double, the Boilermakers are 22-3 this year and 29-4 during his career. His 33 career double-doubles (in 65 games) are the fourth most in school history.
- Swanigan has posted four 20-20 games this year. The rest of major-college players have three combined. It is also double the amount of 20-20 games by Big Ten players in the last 20 years (2).
- Swanigan needs just 21 points, 10 rebounds and three assists to become the second major college player in the last 25 years to have 600 points, 400 rebounds and 90 assists in a season. The other is Wake Forest's Tim Duncan (1996-97).
- Swanigan became the fifth player in Purdue history to have 500 points and 300 rebounds in a single season, and the first since Brad Miller in 1997-98.
- He has smashed the school record for most rebounds in a season with 390. The previous record was 352 by Joe Barry Carroll during the 1978-79 season.
- His 390 rebounds are the second most for a Big Ten player since the 1989-90 season (Iowa's Reggie Evans had in 416 in 2000-01). He also needs just 10 rebounds to become the sixth player in Big Ten history with 400 rebounds in a season.
- With his current averages of 18.7 points, 12.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game, he is 1-of-2 players in the last 25 years to average those marks (Wake Forest's Tim Duncan in 1996-97).
- Swanigan is averaging 14.3 points and 10.3 rebounds for his career, and is on pace to average a career double-double, the first for a Purdue player since Dave Schellhase in 1964-66, 51 years ago.
- Swanigan owns 13, 20-10 games this season, the eighth most for a player since the 2010-11 season and second most in the country this year.
- Lastly, Swanigan excels off the court as well, being named a second-team Academic All-American.
