Penn State Men’s Basketball: Ace Baldwin Named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year

Penn State men’s basketball guard Ace Baldwin Jr. was named the Big Ten’s Defensive Player of the Year Tuesday.

In his first year at Penn State after transferring in from VCU, Baldwin continued to showcase a defensive acumen that featured an average of 2.71 steals per game, on track to be the most by a Big Ten player in a single season since 1993 when Northwestern’s Pat Baldwin averaged 2.96, while his 2.70 steals per game in conference play are the most since 2014 when Ohio State guard Aaron Craft averaged 2.72 steals per Big Ten contest.

This is actually Baldwin’s second such honor, having been named the A-10 Conference Defensive Player of the Year last season in addition to the league’s Player of The Year.

Baldwin is the only active Division I player with 1,000+ career points (1,271), 600+ career assists (606) and 250+ career steals (267). His career steals total ranks second amongst active Division I players, while his assists rank 17th.

“There are people that look at just the stat sheet and the conference stats and stat leaders and vote that way because they don’t know the game,” Penn State coach Mike Rhoades said of Baldwin back in February. “I’ll learn this first year if people are really watching the game and know basketball. But the dude’s a winner. He’s been a winner everywhere he’s at. He impacts the game in so many different ways.” 

Although he has yet to announce his intentions Baldwin, still has one season of eligibility remaining and could return to Penn State next year. In the meanwhile, the Nittany Lions are slated to face Michigan at 9 p.m. on Wednesday in Minneapolis for the opening round of the Big Ten Tournament.