March 8, 2010
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA., March 8, 2010 - Nittany Lion junior point-guard added some more honors to his trophy case Monday when he was named to the All-Big Ten second team by conference coaches and media.
Battle, who is the only BCS conference player to lead his team in scoring (18.8 ppg), rebounding (5.4 rpg), assists (4.1 apg) and steals (1.1 spg) earned post-season all-conference honors for the second-straight season. A first-team selection as a sophomore when he posted averages of 16.7 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 4.9 apg, Battle joins Joe Crispin (first-team in 2001, second-team in 2000) as the only Nittany Lions ever to be honored on the first or second All-Big Ten teams in two seasons. No Lion has ever twice earned first-team honors.
Battle becomes just the sixth Lion to have been honored on one of the first three All-Big Ten teams more than once as he joins Crispin, John Amaechi, Pete Lisicky, Geary Claxton and Jamelle Cornley. Amaechi leads all Lions earning All-Big Ten selection in three seasons with first-team honors in 1995 and third-team selections in 1993 and 1994.
Both the conference coaches and media selected a first team of Demetir McCamey (Illinois), Kalin Lucas (Michigan State), Evan Turner (Ohio State), Robbie Hummel (Purdue) and E'Twaun Moore (Purdue). Both second team selections consisted of Battle, DeShawn Sims (Michigan), John Shurna (Northwestern), JaJuan Johnson (Purdue) and Trevon Hughes (Wisconsin).
Turner was the only unanimous selection by the media voters and was named the Big Ten Player of the Year by both the coaches and media. The coaches also named Purdue's Chris Kramer the Defensive Player of the Year, Illinois' D.J. Richardson the Freshman of the Year, Michigan State's Draymond Green the Sixth Man of the Year and Purdue's Matt Painter the Coach of the Year.
The media voters selected Northwestern's Jordan Crawford the Freshman of the Year and Ohio State's Thad Matta as the Coach of the Year.
Battle, who ranks second in the Big Ten in scoring, became just the third Lions to post consecutive seasons of 500 points or more in his junior campaign as he joined All-American Jesse Arnelle and Joe Crispin. Battle and Turner are also the only two players in NCAA Division I to average better than 18.5 points, 5.4 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game and the only two Big Ten players to rank in the top 15 of scoring, rebounding, assists and steals in the conference. The 6-0, guard posted a Big Ten leading 14 20-point outings on the year and four 30-point games, including a 30-point performance vs. No. 10 Michigan State, 31 points at Iowa and a pair of career-best 32 point games at Virginia and vs. Virginia Tech. Battle moved into seventh on the Penn State all-time scoring charts with 1,516 points and stands just 28 rebounds shy of becoming the first player in Nittany Lion history to post 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 400 assists.
Battle and the Nittany Lions will take on Minnesota in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament Thursday at approximately 7:30 p.m. on the Big Ten Network.
- Nittany Lions -