Purdue's Zach Edey named Big Ten player of year for second straight season
Purdue's Zach Edey repeated as Associated Press Big Ten player of the year Tuesday and Matt Painter of the Boilermakers is coach of the year for the second straight season.
Edey was the unanimous choice for top honors in balloting by 14 journalists who cover the conference. Illinois' Marcus Domask is the newcomer of the year.
Painter, who shared coach of the year with Northwestern's Chris Collins in 2023, edged out Nebraska's Fred Hoiberg by one vote for this year's coaching award.
The 7-foot-4, 300-pound Edey leads the Big Ten with 24.2 points and 11.7 rebounds per game and is shooting a conference-best 61.7% from the field. Since 1992-93, Edey is among three players nationally with two seasons of 700 points and 350 rebounds. He's the only player in Big Ten history to accomplish that.
Northwestern's Boo Buie joins Edey as unanimous picks to the AP All-Big Ten first team. Buie is averaging 18.9 points per game and has improved his 3-point percentage from 31.8% last year to 43.1% to rank second in the Big Ten.
Joining Edey and Buie on the first team are Purdue's Braden Smith and Illinois' Terrence Shannon Jr. and Domask.
Domask, a graduate transfer from Southern Illinois, started all 31 games and scored in double figures in 21 of his last 22 games, including all 10 Big Ten road games.
Painter led Purdue to 28 regular-season wins and 17 conference wins, both school records. The Boilermakers also have won two straight Big Ten regular-season titles and will go for back-to-back conference tournament championships this week in Minneapolis.
Hoiberg's Cornhuskers, picked 12th in the Big Ten in the preseason, finished third for their highest conference finish since 1992-93. The Huskers' 22 wins are tied for second on the school's all-time list.
FIRST TEAM
u-Guard — Boo Buie, Northwestern, Gr., 6-2, 180, Albany, New York.
Guard — Braden Smith, Purdue, So., 6-0, 175, Westfield, Indiana.
Forward — Terrence Shannon Jr., Illinois, Sr., 6-6, 225, Chicago.
Forward - Marcus Domask, Illinois, Gr., 6-6, 215, Waupon, Wisconsin.
u-Center — Zach Edey, Purdue, Sr., 7-4, 300, Toronto.
—"u" denotes unanimous selection.
SECOND TEAM
Guard — Jahmir Young, Maryland, Sr., 6-1, 185, Upper Marlboro, Maryland.
Guard — Tyson Walker, Michigan State, Gr., 6-1, 185, Westbury, New York.
Forward — Dawson Garcia, Minnesota, Jr., 6-11, 230, Savage, Minnesota.
Foward — Coleman Hawkins, Illinois, Sr., 6-10, 230, Sacramento, California.
Center - Kel'el Ware, Indiana, So, 7-0, 242, North Little Rock, Arkansas.
INDIVIDUAL HONORS
Coach of the year — Matt Painter, Purdue.
u-Player of the year — Zach Edey, Purdue.
Newcomer of the year — Marcus Domask, Illinois.
AP ALL-BIG TEN VOTING PANEL
Nick Bahe, FOX Sports; Mike DeCourcy, Sporting News, FOX Sports; Dave Eanet, WGN Radio (Chicago); Brian Fonseca, New Jersey Advance Media; Marcus Fuller, Minneapolis Star Tribune; Adam Jardy, Columbus Dispatch; Stephen Jones, Penn State Sports Network; Andrew Kahn, MLive.com (Ann Arbor, Michigan); Wilson Moore, Omaha (Nebraska) World-Herald; Zach Osterman, Indianapolis Star; Jim Polzin, Madison.com (Madison, Wisconsin); Scott Richey, Champaign (Illinois) News-Gazette; Dylan Sinn, Fort Wayne (Indiana) Journal Gazette; Tyler Tachman, Des Moines (Iowa) Register.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
