Purdue’s Braden Smith, Spartans’ Tom Izzo win top awards in Big Ten’s voting for conference honors, Gophers’ Garcia All-Second team
Purdue guard Braden Smith (3) celebrates after a basket against Rutgers during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in West Lafayette, Ind., Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)[ASSOCIATED PRESS/Michael Conroy]
ROSEMONT, Ill. (AP) — Purdue’s Braden Smith was named the Big Ten player of the year and Michigan State’s Tom Izzo coach of the year by coaches and the media in voting coordinated by the conference. Smith and Izzo won the same honors from The Associated Press on Tuesday.
The coaches voted Penn State’s Ace Baldwin Jr. the defensive player of the year, Maryland’s Derik Queen the freshman of the year and Illinois’ Will Riley the sixth man of the year.
The coaches’ All-Big Ten first team was made up of Smith, Queen, Nebraska’s Brice Williams, Purdue’s Trey Kaufman-Renn and Wisconsin’s John Tonje. The coaches’ second team included Michigan’s Vladislav Goldin and Danny Wolf, Minnesota’s Dawson Garcia, Northwestern’s Nick Martinelli and Ohio State’s Bruce Thornton.
The media’s first team included Goldin, Williams, Kaufman-Renn, Smith and Tonje. The second team was made up of Queen, Wolf, Garcia, Martinelli and Thornton.
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