Caleb Swanigan Named National Player of the Week

As the case for a National Player of the Year Award grows for Caleb Swanigan the bigger awards keep coming. After winning his fifth Big Ten Player of the Week Award yesterday Caleb Swanigan was named the Lute Olson NATIONAL Player of the Week for the second time this season:

Swanigan also won the award on Dec. 26, 2016, and earlier today, was named the Big Ten Player of the Week for the fifth time this season.

Swanigan averaged 25.0 points and 13.0 rebounds in wins over No. 25-ranked Northwestern on Wednesday and No. 17-ranked Maryland on Saturday. He went a combined 16-of-30 from the field, 5-of-10 from 3-point range and 13-of-15 from the free throw line in the two victories.

Swanigan scored 24 points with 16 rebounds and an assist against Northwestern, going 7-of-11 from the field, 2-of-4 from 3-point range and 8-of-9 from the free throw line. In the win over Maryland, he tallied 26 points with 10 rebounds, a career-high three steals and two blocks. He scored 17 of his points in the second half, helping Purdue overcome a 12-point second-half deficit for the win.

In the win over Maryland, he surpassed 300 rebounds for the season, becoming just the sixth player in school history with 300 rebounds in a season (Joe Barry Carroll, Robinson, Terry Dischinger, Frank Kendrick, Brad Miller), now ranking sixth on Purdue’s single-season rebounds list (306). Over the last 25 seasons, the most rebounds by a Big Ten player is 416 rebounds by Iowa’s Reggie Evans during the 2000-01 campaign.

The crazy thing is that it was a pretty pedestrian week for Caleb! Hopefully he keeps it going and brings the Wooden back home.