MSU senior guard Denzel Valentine was named the 2015-16 Big Ten player of the year Monday night, according to a post season awards show televised on Big Ten Network.
“I’m extremely blessed to receive this award,” Valentine said in a press release. “It’s an award for an individual, but I wouldn’t be receiving it without all the help and support from my teammates and coaches. So many people have helped me along the way, and helped me improve as a player. I can’t thank them enough for all they’ve done for me.
“It’s a tremendous honor just for me to be mentioned with all the greats that have won this award before me, both here at Michigan State and across the Big Ten. I’ve certainly dreamed about this, but an even bigger goal is winning the Big Ten Tournament, making a Final Four and then winning a National Championship. That’s where all of my focus is over the next month. I’ll have plenty of time to enjoy the individual awards after that.”
It's been quite the year for Valentine. The 6-foot-5 guard from Lansing, Mich. averaged 19.6 points, 7.5 assists and 7.5 rebounds in 27 games during the regular season, helping the No. 2 Spartans to a 26-5 regular season record along the way.
If Valentine is able to finish the season with such numbers, he will be the first player to do so since the NCAA began keeping track of assists in the 1983-84 season.
Valentine is the eighth Spartan to win the award and is the first since Draymond Green in 2012.
"There were some other great candidates especially Yogi Ferrell and Jarrod Uthoff, but I think Denzel is very deserving of the award,” MSU head basketball coach Tom Izzo said in a press release. “If you look at all categories, Denzel had a tremendous year. What’s really impressive about his season is that not only did he miss some games due to injury and come back at a higher level, he also had teammates miss time because of injury and he was able to excel while playing a completely different position. As impressive as Denzel’s stats are, when you take into account his leadership, which has always been a strength, and his defense, which has greatly improved, he’s really the complete package.”
In addition to Valentine's player of the year and All-Big Ten first team honors, MSU senior guard Bryn Forbes was named to the All-Big Ten second team by both the coaches and media, while MSU senior forward Matt Costello was named to the All-Big Ten second team by the media and the All-Big Ten third team by the coaches.
The Spartans finished the Big Ten regular season with a 13-5 record, enough to earn them a No. 2 seed in the upcoming Big Ten tournament, where MSU will play at 6:30 p.m. Friday night against the winner of Thursdays's Penn State vs. Ohio State match up.
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