Player of the Year
After this weekend, with Nevada winning their final two home games to secure the No. 2 seed in the WAC Tournament, it was only a matter of time before Luke Babbitt was named the Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year. Babbitt, who led the WAC in scoring and finished third in rebounding, also earned first-team all-WAC honors as well.
Babbitt ended the season by averaging 21.7 points, 9.3 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.1 steals per game to take home the WAC’s top honor. He also shot a sizzling 43 percent from beyond the arc, plus a cool 50 percent from the field. After shooting over 90 percent from the free-throw line, Babbitt not only topped the WAC this year, he placed himself at the top of Nevada’s all-time career free-throw percentage leaders.
The sophomore from Galena also racked up an impressive 16 double-doubles on the 2009 season.
“I am extremely proud of Luke Babbitt for being named the WAC Player of the Year,” first-year Nevada head coach David Carter said. “He has been very consistent for our team throughout the conference as well as throughout the season. It’s an accomplishment for a player the caliber of Luke who has taken on many from opposing teams to have had the year he has had to this point.”
To show how dominant Babbitt was during his sophomore season among the WAC’s top 20 overall scorers, the Galena high product finished first in scoring, three-point shooting, free-throw shooting, and efficiency. He was top five in many other categories, including rebounding, steals and blocks.
It was also reported that he’s the only player in the nation to make over 50% of his FGs, over 40% of his 3pt FGs and over 90% of his FTs. The last WAC player I remember doing that was Jaycee Carroll. Also, Pomeroy hasn’t updated his player stats for this week, but going into the week Luke is the only underclassman in the nation that Pomeroy ranks as a major contributor (must use 24% of total team possessions) that finished in the top 10 in offensive efficiency. None that finished higher than Luke was taller than 6′7″ which is testament to his amazing shooting ability for a player his size.
Congratulations to Luke. And also AJ and Dario.