Jalen Pickett recognized by John Wooden Award watch list
Moments after Penn State dropped a 65-45 decision at Rutgers on Jan. 24, head coach Micah Shrewsberry took five minutes of questions from reporters. By its conclusion, though, he had an ongoing gripe to air one final time regarding his standout senior point guard, Jalen Pickett.
Again fired up by the game’s officiating, a running theme through the first half of the Big Ten schedule, Shrewsberry relented, save for one particularly grating element of the issue.
“I just want Jalen Pickett to shoot more than two free throws a game,” Shrewsberry said. “He’s one of the best players in this league, who never gets fouled.”
Through 21 games this season, Shrewsberry’s first point is unimpeachable. Currently among the nation’s top scorers, averaging 17.6 points per game (77th), and most voluminous shooters, taking 296 field goal attempts thus far (76th), Pickett has so far attempted just 57 free throws.
Jalen Pickett’s Wooden Award recognition
To his second point, Monday evening, the Wooden Award also confirmed as much. Announced via press release, the Penn State senior point guard has been named to the John R. Wooden Award Late Season Top 20 Watch List. The award annually recognizes the top player in college basketball.
Through the first two-thirds of the regular season, Pickett has produced ample affirmation to the selection.
At present, he is the only player nationally to be among the leaders in scoring (17.6 points), rebounds (8.0 rpg), and assists (7.0). While not leading in any of the categories individually, the combination makes Pickett the only player average those numbers. Should the performance continue through the final 10 games of the Big Ten slate, he would become the only player in three decades to achieve the feat.
Latest standout performance
Sunday afternoon, Pickett provided yet another gleaming example backing up the selection. Producing 17 points in the game’s first 12 minutes, he paced the Nittany Lions. Pickett also gave the Wolverine defense fits en route to a much-needed, 83-61 win.
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He finished with a game-high 25 points on 10-of-17 shooting, knocking down 2-of-4 3-pointers, while collecting eight rebounds and dishing eight assists. His four turnovers were an anomaly on his season performance, too, Pickett now 7th nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio at 3.11.
Flummoxed by Pickett’s outstanding play, Michigan’s leader ceded the issues presented by one of the league’s best players.
“Jalen is having a great year and he’s playing extremely well. We’re probably gonna see him again. You never know how the Big Ten Tournament goes,” Michigan coach Juwan Howard said. “But, he’s a special young man. He’s bought into coach’s system and he’s been extremely effective.”
Pickett has also been named to The Sporting News Midseason All-America Third Team as well as the 50-player midseason watch list for the Oscar Robertson Trophy.
Penn State returns to action Wednesday when it travels to face No. 1 Purdue. Tip is set for 6:30 p.m. and the game will be broadcast by the BTN.
