Karl Malone Award Candidates

Reuvers named candidate for Karl Malone Award

Senior among 20 in running for nation’s best power forward

 

Nov. 5, 2020

 

MADISON, Wis. – Badger big man Nate Reuvers has become a big-time contributor for Wisconsin. Entering the 2020-21 season, the senior is garnering big-time recognition and was named a candidate for the 2021 Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Thursday.

 

Reuvers is one of 20 watch list candidates – one of three from the Big Ten – for the nation’s best power forward. He becomes the second Badger to be named a candidate for the Karl Malone Award, joining Nigel Hayes (2017).

 

A Third-Team All-Big Ten honoree last season, Reuvers has become one of the Badgers’ most reliable producers, averaging 13.1 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game in 2019-20. The Lakeville, Minnesota native scored in double figures in 24 of 31 games last year, including 12 of the final 15 games.

 

Reuvers was a defensive presence for the Badgers with 58 blocks last season, which tied for the seventh-highest single-season total in UW history. He enters his senior campaign tied for third in UW history with 144 career blocks, needing just 11 swats to break Ethan Happ’s school record (154).

 

In late January, the Karl Malone Award watch list of 20 players will be narrowed down to just 10. In late February, five finalists will be presented to Mr. Malone and the Hall of Fame’s selection committee. The winner of the 2021 Karl Malone Award will be presented April 9, 2021.

 

Previous winners of the Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award include Obi Toppin, Dayton (2020), Zion Williamson, Duke (2019), Deandre Ayton, Arizona (2018), Johnathan Motley, Baylor (2017), Georges Niang, Iowa State (2016) and Montrezl Harrell, Louisville (2015).

 

2021 KARL MALONE AWARD CANDIDATES

Mark Vital – Baylor

Aamir Simms – Clemson

Matthew Hurt – Duke

Drew Timme – Gonzaga

Trayce Jackson-Davis – Indiana

Isaiah Jackson – Kentucky

Trendon Watford – LSU

Tre Mitchell – Massachusetts

Garrison Brooks – North Carolina

Seth Towns – Ohio State

Brady Manek – Oklahoma

Hasahn French – Saint Louis

Sandro Mamukelashvili – Seton Hall

Oscar da Silva – Stanford

John Fulkerson – Tennessee

Greg Brown – Texas

Kevin Marfo – Texas A&M

Jeremiah Robinson-Earl – Villanova

Oscar Tshiebwe – West Virginia

Nate Reuvers – Wisconsin

 

*players can play their way onto and off of the list at any point in the 2020-21 season