Penn State men’s basketball guard Ace Baldwin Jr. was named the Big Ten’s Defensive Player of the Year Tuesday.

In his first season in Happy Valley, the Baltimore native averaged a team-high 14.6 points per game alongside 7.1 assists and three rebounds per game through 20 appearances. In the backcourt, Baldwin put together 55 turnovers, five blocks, and 56 steals en route to the conference honor.

Baldwin’s honor comes after the VCU transfer was named the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year and included on the first-team all-conference and all-defensive teams in 2022-23.

Head coach Mike Rhoades called for Baldwin’s recognition as Big Ten Player of the Year or Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year earlier in the season, stating Baldwin’s stats don’t shine the way his play does.

“There are people that look at just the stat sheet and the conference stats and stat leaders and vote that way because they don’t know the game,” Rhoades said in February. “I’ll learn this first year if people are really watching the game and know basketball. But the dude’s a winner. He’s been a winner everywhere he’s at. He impacts the game in so many different ways.”

Baldwin has yet to announce if he’ll return to Happy Valley for his final year of eligibility. In the meantime, the No. 11-seeded Nittany Lions are gearing up to face No. 14-seeded Michigan at 9 p.m. on Wednesday, March 13, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in the opening round of the Big Ten Tournament. Folks can stream the game on Peacock.