UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State men's basketball senior guard Jalen Pickett was named a second team All-American by Sporting News Tuesday morning.
Sporting News is one of four outlets used by the NCAA to determine its consensus All-America teams (Associated Press, National Association of Basketball Coaches, United States Basketball Writers Association, and Sporting News).
Pickett joins Jesse Arnelle as the only two Nittany Lions in program history to earn second-team or higher All-America status. Arnelle collected first-team All-America honors in 1954 from the Helms Foundation and second-team honors in 1955.
Pickett has put together one of the finest seasons in Penn State history. He is the only player in the country averaging at least 18 points (18.0) per game, seven rebounds per game (7.3) and seven assists (7.0) per game. Only one men's college basketball player in the last 30 years (since 1992-93 season) has finished the season averaging 18/7/7. Michigan State's Denzel Valentine finished the 2015-16 season averaging 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds and 7.8 assists per game en route to AP National Player of the Year accolades.
Pickett ranks in the top five nationally in both assists per game (7.0) and assist-to-turnover ratio (3.27) while engineering a Penn State offense that ranks third nation in fewest turnovers per game (8.8) and 15th in effective field goal percentage (.561).
The six-foot-four guard played his best in Big Ten play, averaging 19.2 points per game, 7.7 rebounds per game and 6.6 assists per game while shooting 55.8% from the field. Pickett finished the conference season in the top five of the Big Ten in scoring (fourth), rebounding (fifth), assists (first), assist-to-turnover ratio (second), and field goal percentage (fourth) in Big Ten games.
The Rochester, N.Y. native's season highlights include a 41-point game, a 32-point game, 12 20-point games, six double-doubles and one triple-double. He has already set a Penn State single-season assists record through 31 games this season, dishing 216 assists to this point.
Pickett has earned major national attention, becoming the first Penn State player to ever land on the Wooden Award National Ballot. He is a top five finalist for the Bob Cousy Award that honors the nation's top point guard, as well as an Oscar Robertson Trophy Late Season Watchlist honoree.
Pickett has put together a historic collegiate career as the only Division I men's college basketball player in AT LEAST the last 37 years to have accumulated marks of 2,000+ career points, 700+ career rebounds and 800+ career assists. Pickett currently owns career marks of 2,111 points, 732 rebounds and 814 assists. He needs just 28 points to reach the 1,000-point milestone in a Penn State uniform. He has tallied 972 points, 359 rebounds and 351 assists through just 62 games as a Nittany Lion.
2023 Sporting News All-Americans
First Team
Zach Edey, Purdue
Trayce Jackson-Davis, Indiana
Jalen Wilson, Kansas
Brandon Miller, Alabama
Drew Timme, Gonzaga
Second Team
Jaime Jaquez, UCLA
Azoulas Tubelis, Arizona
Marcus Sasser, Houston
Jalen Pickett, Penn State
Tyler Kolek, Marquette
Third Team
Kris Murray, Iowa
Oscar Tshiebwe, Kentucky
Kendric Davis, Memphis
Markquis Nowell, Kansas State
Armando Bacot, North Carolina
