Jalen Pickett unanimous as national player of the week
Jalen Pickett has moved on. The Penn State point guard is preparing for the Nittany Lions’ next game, a Thursday night tilt at Ohio State.
But, the rest of the men’s college basketball ecosystem had more recognition to deliver Tuesday in praise of Pickett’s big week.
Coming off games of 41 and 32 points, with a combined 16 assists and 11 rebounds, Pickett added two more honors to his tally. They included the Naismith Player of the Week and the USBWA Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week. The nods come on the heels of Monday honors that included the ESPN, NCAA March Madness, Lute Olson, and Field of 58 National Player of the Week distinction. He was also named the Big Ten Player of the Week for the second time this season.
With the two additional honors Tuesday, Pickett was announced by the program as having “completed a clean sweep of all major national awards this week.” Humbled and gracious on Monday upon receiving the raft of honors, Pickett redirected attention to what has stood at the top of his priorities as his final season as a Nittany Lion comes to a close.
“I’m just enjoying every game we play,” Pickett said. “These guys make it fun for me. Finally getting a couple of wins in a row is fun.”
The case for Jalen Pickett
Where Pickett won’t pound the table for himself, head coach Micah Shrewsberry has happily taken up the task.
Asked about the season Pickett is having and what it has meant to Penn State, and why he’d stump for his transfer guard as an All-American, Shrewsberry was effusive in his praise.
“I guess you just don’t appreciate him if you don’t see him. But, even if you don’t see him, if he just looked at the numbers, I think Denzel Valentine is the only guy in the last 30 years or something that’s 17 seven and seven,” Shrewsberry said. “If you just heard that, you’d be like, ‘Wow. That’s pretty impressive.’ I don’t even know if you need to watch it.
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“And he’s doing it in the best league in the country. He’s number one on the charts of people trying to stop him each and every game. And, he’s continuing to do it, night in and night out. So what he’s doing is impressive. And if you watch him, it becomes even more impressive.”
Next steps
Instead, he is focusing his efforts on whatever it takes to help lift Penn State to an NCAA Tournament bid. In the process, Pickett and the Nittany Lions have worked to block out distractions as the final four games of the regular season approach, along with the Big Ten Tournament in Chicago.
“It’s not March yet. Selection Sunday has not come up yet. So just go 1-0,” Pickett said. “I’m just trying to go, keep doing my best, keep getting wins. Build a resume, and hopefully we can get there.”
Convinced that Pickett’s best path to receiving his due credit is through the team’s success the rest of the way, Shrewsberry said it’s on the program, as a whole, to deliver that rightful attention on the national stage.
“Scoring, rebounding, assists. I don’t know what more you can ask for,” Shrewsberry said. “It’s on us. We got to continue to win games so he gets rewarded for the season that he’s having. That’s where it’s on us, me as a coach and the rest of our guys, to keep playing the way that we’re playing, so we can win games, so he gets rewarded for that. That’s when people get individual accolades is when you win. And that’s something that he deserves.”
