SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – University of Dayton forward
Obi Toppin has been named the 2020 Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year. The award is presented by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and named after 11-time All-NBA First Team selection Karl Malone.
"I genuinely respect
Obi Toppin and the work he has put in to achieve the results we all saw this season," Malone said. "I enjoy watching college basketball because the athletes give their all and take no possessions off – Obi is a perfect example of that. With his work ethic and athleticism, I'm excited to see him continue to further his game."
The Malone Award is part of the Hall of Fame's "Starting Five" awards program. The other awards on the men's side are the Bob Cousy Point Guard Award, the Jerry West Shooting Guard Award, the Julius Erving Small Forward Award and the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center Award. All five greats are members of the Naismith Hall of Fame.
2020 Men's Naismith Starting Five Consists Of:
Payton Pritchard (Oregon) – Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Award
Myles Powell (Seton Hall) – Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award
Saddiq Bey (Villanova) – Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award
Obi Toppin (Dayton) – Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award
Luka Garza (Iowa) – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year
"The Basketball Hall of Fame is proud to celebrate the best in the game, men and women at every level," said John Doleva, President of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. "While we share in the sentiment that we would have loved to see these student-athletes playout the 2019-20 season, we are proud to honor them for their accomplishments and present them with awards that will eternally tie them to the greats of the game."
A 6-foot-9 forward from Brooklyn, Toppin is the University of Dayton's first consensus All-American, having been picked a First Team All-American by The Sporting News, Associated Press, USBWA and NABC.
He has already been selected the College Basketball Player of the Year by the Atlanta Tip-Off Club (Naismith Trophy), the USBWA (Oscar Robertson Award), the Associated Press, , the NABC, The Athletic, USA Today, CBSsports.com, NBC Sports, Fox Sports and Rivals. Sports Illustrated announced its Top 50 College Basketball Players for the 2019-20 season in March, and Toppin's uniform number matched his ranking – "1."
Toppin is also a finalist for the Los Angeles Athletic Club's John R. Wooden Award.
He finished the year averaging 20.0 points and 7.5 rebounds a game, and shooting .633 (245-387) from the field, .390 (32-82) from 3-pt. range and .702 (99-141) from the line. According to Synergy Basketball, Toppin led the nation with 1.20 points per possession while he was on the floor.
He was the only player in the country who averaged 20.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and shot over 60% from the field. He also had the best field goal percentage in the last five years of any Division I player who averaged 20 points a game.
Toppin led the A-10 in FG% (.633, 245-387), and was second in scoring (20.0). He was the only player in the conference to be listed in both the top ten in FG% and 3-pt. FG% (8th, .390, 32-82). He was also fifth nationally in field goal percentage, even though he took more than double the number of three-pointers the rest of the top 10 combined.
The athletic high Flyer also led the nation in dunks (107). His last five college field goals were dunks (his first two college field goals as a freshman were also slams). Toppin ended his college career as UD's career field goal percentage record holder by the slimmest of margins. Toppin's .6473 (446-689) edged Sean Finn's previous record of .6469 (414-640).
Toppin lifted the Flyers to a 29-2 record, setting the most wins in school history even though UD did not get a chance to play any post-season games. Dayton ended the year ranked third in the nation and will carry a 20-game win streak into 2020-21, the longest active streak in Division I. UD won its third A-10 regular season championship in the last five years, but this season went undefeated (18-0) for the first time.
