LOS ANGELES – Penn State men's basketball senior forward Lamar Stevens has been included on the Wooden Award Late Season Top 20 Watch List as announced on ESPNU on Monday, Feb. 3. The 6-8, 225-lb. forward recently eclipsed the 2,000-career point mark and became only the third Nittany Lion in program history to achieve that milestone. Stevens is one of only two active NCAA players with at least 2,000 career points and 800 career rebounds.
The players on the list are considered strong candidates for the 2020 John R. Wooden Award Men's Player of the Year presented by Wendy's. The National Ballot will consist of 15 top players who have proven to their universities that they meet or exceed the qualifications of the Wooden Award.
Stevens earned All-Big Ten Conference honors following the 2018-19 season and was selected for 2019-20 preseason All-Big Ten Conference honors. Stevens, who has started all 125 games in his career, announced he would return to compete for Penn State for his senior season.
A Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, product, Stevens has helped lead Penn State to its first national ranking since 1996 as the Nittany Lions moved up to No. 22 in this week's Associated Press poll. Stevens, the No. 3 all-time scorer and No. 5 all-time rebounder for the Nittany Lions, is ranked in the top 10 in several Penn State career categories and has 106 career games with double-figure scoring.
Nearly 1,000 voters will rank in order 10 of those 15 players when voting opens prior to the NCAA Tournament and will allow voters to take into consideration performance during early round games. The Wooden Award All American Team™ will be announced the week of the "Elite Eight" round of the NCAA Tournament. The winner of the 2020 John R. Wooden Award will be presented by Wendy's during the ESPN College Basketball Awards on Friday, April 10, 2020
Created in 1976, the John R. Wooden Award Program hosts the most prestigious honors in college basketball recognizing The Wooden Award Most Outstanding Player for men and women, The Wooden Award All American Teams for men and women and the annual selection of the Wooden Award Legend of Coaching recipient. Honorees have proven to their university that they meet or exceed the qualifications of the John R. Wooden Award as set forth by Coach Wooden and the Wooden Award Steering Committee, including making progress towards graduation and maintaining at least a 2.0 cumulative GPA. Previous winners include Larry Bird ('79), Michael Jordan ('84), Tim Duncan ('97), Kevin Durant ('07), Candace Parker ('07; '08), Maya Moore ('09; '11), Chiney Ogwumike ('14), and last year's recipients, Sabrina Ionescu of Oregon and Zion Williamson of Duke.
Since its inception, the John R. Wooden Award has contributed nearly one million dollars to the universities' general scholarship fund in the names of the Wooden Award All-American recipients and has sent more than 1,000 underprivileged children to week-long college basketball camps.
Additionally, the John R. Wooden Award partners with the Special Olympics Southern California (SOSC) each year to host the Wooden Award Special Olympics Southern California Basketball Tournament. The day-long tournament brings together Special Olympics athletes and Wooden Award All Americans and coaches in attendance. It is hosted at the Los Angeles Athletic Club during the John R. Wooden Award Weekend.
For up-to-date information on the Wooden Award, please visit https://www.woodenaward.com/ and follow the Wooden Award on Facebook at www.facebook.com/woodenaward and @WoodenAward on Twitter and Instagram.
