Following an exceptional season that put his name in the Oregon record books, and secured the Ducks a No. 1 seed for the Pac-12 tournament, West Linn native Payton Pritchard was named the Pac-12 Player of the Year Monday afternoon.
Pritchard was also named a member of the Pac-12’s all-league team by the league’s coaches.
In a career filled with great seasons, the point guard had his most impressive showing for his senior year. He placed in the nation’s top 30 in minutes per game with 36.3, while playing 40 or more minutes seven times. He leads the nation in consecutive games started (140) and has the program record for career games started (140).
He is one of four players in the nation leading his conference points per game (20.5) and assists per game (5.6). He is looking to join Gary Payton, Damon Stoudamire and Jason Terry as the only players in Pac-12 history to lead in both of these statistics in the same season.
Pritchard is one of three players in the nation averaging 20 points, four rebounds and five assists per game. He also leads the Ducks in three-pointers (88), field goals (216), free throws (115), points (635), assists (172) and steals (47).
On Jan. 23rd he became the only player in Pac-12 history with 1900 career points, 600 career assists, and 500 career rebounds. Pritchard is on pace to become just the second 2,000 career point scorer in program history, and already holds the record for assists (659), wins (105) and games started (144).
With another feather in his cap, Pritchard looks to lead his team to a Pac-12 tournament championship. TheDucks will face the winner of the Oregon State-Utah for the quarterfinal round Thursday in Las Vegas.