March 9, 2011
University Park, Pa., March 9, 2011 - Penn State senior guard Talor Battle (Albany, N.Y.) continued to add unprecedented accolades to his brilliant Penn State career Wednesday as he was named a first-team NABC All-District 7 selection by the National Association of Basketball Coaches.
A two-time first-team All-Big Ten selection who finished second in the conference in scoring (20.4 ppg) and threes per game (3.0) on the year, Battle became the first Penn State player ever to earn multiple first-team NABC all-district selections and garnered just the program's fifth first-team all-district selection overall. Battle, who also earned first team honors in 2009 and was a second team selection in 2010, also became the first Lion ever to be honored by the NABC in three seasons. John Amaechi (1995), Joe Crispin (2001) and Geary Claxton (2006) are the other Lions to earn first-team all-district honors from the NABC.
Battle was joined on the District 7 first-team by Big Ten Player of the Year JaJuan Johnson (Purdue), Jared Sullinger (Ohio State), Jordan Taylor (Wisconsin) and Jon Leuer (Wisconsin). The NABC, which has nearly 5,000 members, selects standouts from 24 different districts across the country annually. All-district selections are eligible for the State Farm Coaches' Division I All-America teams, which will be announced April 2. The NABC was founded in 1927 by legendary Kansas basketball coach Forrest "Phog" Allen.
Battle will take the highest scoring average at Penn State in nearly 50 years into the Nittany Lions first round Big Ten Tournament contest with Indiana, Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. on the Big Ten Network. Just the third player in NCAA Division I history to post at least 2,00 points, 600 rebounds and 500 assists and is the first Big Ten Player ever to reach 2,000 points, 500 rebounds and 500 assists, Battle stands 16th all-time in Big Ten career scoring with 2,119 points and is 20 shy of eclipsing the 56-year-old all-time scoring mark of 2,138 set by Jesse Arnelle in 1955. Battle is the first Lion ever to post three seasons of 500 points or more and his 593 points on the year rank as sixth-best season scoring total in Penn State history.
Battle has logged 15 games of 20 or more points on the season and leads the Big Ten with eight games of 25 or more. His 87 threes (3.0 per game) on the year rank second in the conference and are just two shy of the fourth-best season total in Penn State history. His 298 career threes rank eighth all-time in the Big Ten and third at Penn State and stand one shy of tying Dee Brown (ILL, 299) for seventh in Big Ten history.
Battle, who has made 69-straight starts, led the Big Ten in minutes played, logging nine complete games of 40 minutes, and stands third all-time in career minutes played in Big Ten history with nearly 4,600. He is just the third Big Ten player in the last decade to record 2,000 career points and ranks third all-time at Penn State in assists and seventh in steals.
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