Michigan State University Athletics
Miles Bridges Named Big Ten Freshman of the Year
3/6/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State guard/forward Miles Bridges was selected as the Big Ten Freshman of the Year by the conference's media and coaches, the Big Ten office announced Monday, March 6. Bridges also earned second-team All-Big Ten honors, while fellow freshman Nick Ward was named honorable mention All-Big Ten. Eron Harris was named MSU's recipient of the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award.
Bridges becomes the second Spartan to win Big Ten Freshman of the Year since it was first presented in 1986, joining Gary Harris (2013), and is just the fourth Spartan freshman to earn all-conference honors, along with Harris (2013), Shawn Respert (1992) and Magic Johnson (1978).
Bridges led all conference freshmen in both scoring (16.6 ppg) and rebounding (8.1 rpg) in Big Ten contests and the native of Flint, Michigan earned Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors five times this season.
One of 10 finalists for the Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award, Bridges has eight 20-plus point games and seven double-doubles, while his 16.6 ppg ranks seventh in the Big Ten and his 8.3 rebounds per game ranks fifth. The 16.6 scoring average is second-best all-time among Spartan freshmen, trailing only Magic Johnson (17.0 ppg). Earlier this season, Bridges set the MSU single-game freshman scoring record with 33 points vs. Purdue (1/24), surpassing Scott Skiles' 32 points vs. Ohio State (2/24/1983).
Ward was named honorable mention by both the coaches and media after scoring in double figures in 22 games this season, including six games of scoring 20 or more points. Ward was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week four times and was the only freshman to be named as the Big Ten's Player of the Week (2/27).
Purdue's Caleb Swanigan was voted Player of the Year and was joined by Iowa's Peter Jok, Maryland's Melo Trimble, Minnesota's Nate Mason and Wisconsin's Ethan Happ on the All-Big Ten First Team in both the coaches and media polls.
Minnesota head coach Richard Pitino was honored by both the coaches and media as the league's Coach of the Year. Minnesota's Reggie Lynch was named the Defensive Player of the Year and Iowa's Nicholas Baer was selected as the Sixth Man of the Year.
