OSU's Turner, Matta take top Big Ten honors
3/10/2010COLUMBUS - Ohio State junior Evan Turner and coach Thad Matta won top Big Ten awards yesterday, while Libbey graduate William Buford was named to the All-Big Ten third team by both the media and the conference coaches.
Buford, last year's Big Ten freshman of the year, had an outstanding sophomore season to help the Buckeyes win a share of the Big Ten championship. The former three-time City League player of the year started all 31 games and averaged 14.3 points and 5.5 rebounds.
OSU junior Evan Turner was named Big Ten player of the year by both the media and the league's coaches, while Ohio State coach Thad Matta won the coach of the year in the media voting. Purdue coach Matt Painter took top honors in the coaches' vote.
Turner is the fifth Buckeye to win the award, and joins Toledo products Jim Jackson, who won in 1991 and '92, and Dennis Hopson (1987), along with Scoonie Penn (1999) and Terence Dials (2006).
Turner led the Big Ten in both scoring (19.5) and rebounding (9.4) from the point guard position, and was second in assists (5.8). He is the first player in Big Ten history to finish in the top two spots in those three categories.
Matta was named coach of the year for the third time in six seasons with the Buckeyes. He also won in 2006 and '07.
Joining Turner on the first team (both votes) were Demetri McCamey of Illinois, Kalin Lucas of Michigan State, and Robbie Hummel and E'Twaun Moore, both of Purdue.
Drew Crawford of Northwestern (media) and D.J. Richardson of Illinois (coaches) were named freshmen of the year.
Michigan senior DeShawn Sims was named to the second team by both the media and coaches, while junior Manny Harris was tabbed for the third team by both. Sims was fifth in the Big Ten in scoring (16.9) and fourth in rebounding (7.1). Harris finished fourth in scoring (17.1) for the Wolverines (14-16, 7-11 Big Ten).
Other Ohio State players honored were David Lighty (third team/media, honorable mention/coaches), Jon Diebler (honorable mention/both) and Dallas Lauderdale (all-defensive team). Lauderdale led the conference in blocked shots with 65, while Diebler led the Big Ten in 3-pointers with 93.
Ohio State (24-7), which started the Big Ten season with a 1-3 record but recovered to go 14-4 in the conference, shared the regular-season title with Purdue and Michigan State. The Buckeyes earned the top seed for the Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis, and will play Friday in a quarterfinal against the winner of tomorrow's Michigan-Iowa game.
Contact Matt Markey at:
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