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Jeff Borzello, ESPN Staff Writer
Purdue star Zach Edey was named the winner of the John R. Wooden Award on Wednesday, becoming the first repeat winner in more than 40 years.
The award is given annually to the best college basketball player in the country.
Edey is coming off of one of the most dominant NCAA tournament runs in history, leading the Boilermakers to the national championship game before losing to UConn. The 7-foot-4 center had 37 points in the title game — the most points ever scored in a losing effort and the second-highest percentage of his team’s points in title game history.
He averaged 29.5 points and 14.5 rebounds in six NCAA tournament games, shooting better than 64% from the floor. Edey became the first player since 1999 with six 20-point games in a single NCAA tournament, and his 177 total points were tied for the second-most all-time.
In the regional final win over Tennessee, Edey became the first player with 40 points, 15 rebounds and 60% field goal shooting in an NCAA tournament game since Houston‘s Elvin Hayes in 1986.
Edey, who had 30 double-doubles and scored in double-figures in all 39 games, entered the season as the heavy favorite to win the Wooden Award. The last repeat winner was Virginia‘s Ralph Sampson in 1982 and 1983.
After averaging 22.3 points and 12.9 rebounds last season to run away with the award, Edey was even more dominant in the 2023-24 campaign. He led the nation in scoring at 25.2 points per game, ranked third in rebounding at 12.2 per game and was in the top 25 in both field goal percentage (62.3%) and blocked shots (2.2 per game).
Edey had 10 30-point games, the 40-point outing against Tennessee and also had a 30-point, 20-rebound game against Penn State — the first time a Big Ten player had 30 points, 20 rebounds and shot 80% from the field in the past 25 seasons.
He also became the first Big Ten player in the past 25 seasons with multiple games of 30 points and 20 rebounds in his career.
Edey is the second Purdue player to win the Wooden Award, which has been given out every year since 1977. Glenn “Big Dog” Robinson won in 1994 after averaging 30.3 points and 10.1 rebounds; a couple of months later, he was the No. 1 pick in the 1994 NBA draft.