Swaningan Named First Team USBWA

Swanigan Named First-Team USBWA All-American

 

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue National Player of the Year candidate Caleb Swanigan was voted a first-team All-America selection by the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) for his role in leading the Boilermakers to the 2017 Big Ten outright regular-season championship.

Swanigan was joined on the first team by guards Lonzo Ball (UCLA), Josh Hart (Villanova), Frank Mason III (Kansas) and Nigel Williams-Goss (Gonzaga). All five players are now eligible to win the Oscar Robertson Trophy given to the nation’s top player. Swanigan is Purdue’s first honoree since JaJuan Johnson in 2011.  Swanigan was named the USBWA District V Player of the Year, was a unanimous selection for Big Ten Player of the Year and has now been named to four All-America squads (USBWA, Sporting News, USA Today, NBC Sports), in addition to being a finalist for the Wooden, Naismith and Malone Awards and a second-team Academic All-American. Swanigan and the Boilermakers will face Vermont in Thursday’s NCAA Tournament first round in Milwaukee, tipping off at 7:27 p.m. ET / 6:27 p.m. CT.

CALEB SWANIGAN

• The most impressive feat that Swanigan has accomplished is that he is a second-team Academic All-American, boasting a 3.30 GPA in educational studies.
• Has now been named to four All-America squads (USBWA, Sporting News, USA Today, NBC Sports) as well as the USBWA District V Player of the Year.
• Swanigan was named Purdue’s fourth Big Ten Player of the Year as well as the AP Big Ten Player of the Year.
• In league games only, Swanigan led the Big Ten in both points (18.9) and rebounds (12.6), becoming the eighth Big Ten player to do so.
• Swanigan won six Big Ten Player of the Week honors, the second most in a season in league history.
• Entering the NCAA Tournament, Swanigan tallied 26 double-doubles in 32 games this year, ranking first nationally in that category. He owns 34 career double-doubles in 66 career games and Purdue is 29-5 when he records a double-double.
• Swanigan’s 26 double-doubles equal the most for a Big Ten player in conference history.
• Swanigan has led the team in rebounding in every game this year but one (Michigan) and ranks second in the country in rebounds per game (12.6). Swanigan has grabbed 33.2 percent of Purdue’s rebounds.
• Swanigan grabbed 227 rebounds in Big Ten play this year, equaling the most for a Big Ten player since Jerry Lucas had 253 in 1962. Michigan’s Rudy Tomjanovich also had 227 in 1969-70.
• Swanigan’s 403 rebounds this year are the seventh most by a player in Big Ten history. Just four players have had more in a season.
• Swanigan needs just eight points to become the fourth player with 600 points, 400 rebounds and 90 assists in the last 25 years. The only other major-conference player to do that was Wake Forest’s Tim Duncan (1996-97).
• Of note, at his current averages of at least 18.5 points, 12.6 rebounds and 2.9 assists, there is just one player since 1992-93 to average that in a single season — the great Tim Duncan of Wake Forest.
• Swanigan has 13, 20-10 games this year, second in the country behind Lehigh’s Tim Kempton (16). His 13, 20-10 games are the eighth most in a season since the 2010-11 campaign.
• Swanigan has two different streaks of eight or more consecutive double-doubles this year. He became the first Purdue player in over 50 years to have at least eight straight double-doubles.
• Swanigan has three 25-15 games for his career, but all have come in the 2016-17 season. It’s the most career 25-15 games for a Big Ten player in the last 25 years. Swanigan’s have come THIS YEAR!
• He opened the season with a 23-point, 20-rebound, six-assist effort against McNeese State. He is 1-of-2 players in America to record 20 points, 20 rebounds and five assists in a game this year and joined a pair No. 1 NBA Draft picks as major-college players to record 20-20-5 in a game in the last 10 years.
• Swanigan’s four 20-20 games are double than ALL Big Ten players combined over the last 20 years.
• Swanigan, Blake Griffin and Hofstra’s Rokas Gustys (2015-16) are the only players in the last 20 years to have back-to-back 20-20 games.
• He also became the sixth college player in the last 20 years with multiple 20-20 games, joining an elite list. Swanigan and Griffin are the only major-college players on the list. His four 20-20 games are the second most by a player in the last 20 years.