WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The Naismith Basketball Memorial Hall of Fame has announced that Oscar Cluff is one of 20 players named to the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award watch list, given to the nation’s top center.
He is joined by fellow Big Ten counterparts Tomislav Ivisic (Illinois), Aday Mara (Michigan), Nate Bittle (Oregon) and Rienk Mast (Nebraska). Cluff was a top-5 finalist for the award last season.
Cluff, a senior center who transferred from South Dakota State, averaged 17.6 points, 12.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game, while shooting 63.4 percent from the field and 77.8 percent from the free throw line for a South Dakota State team that posted a 20-12 record last season and finished the year ranked 136th in KenPom. He joins now-teammate Trey Kaufman-Renn as the lone players in America to average at least 17.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists while shooting at least 59.0 percent from the field a year ago.
He was named a first-team All-Summit League honoree and was a member of the Summit League All-Defensive team this past season. According to KenPom, he finished the year fifth in the country in offensive rebound percentage (17.2) and first in defensive rebound percentage (32.4). He was also 33rd in effective field goal percentage (62.6). He finished second in the country in rebounds per game (12.3) and eighth nationally in field goal percentage (.634).
Purdue opens its regular season on Nov. 4, when Evansville visits Mackey Arena.