by RENALDO DORSETT
HOUSTON, Texas – Add another individual award for Buddy Hield as he chases a national title with his Oklahoma Sooners.
Hield was awarded the United States Basketball Writers Association’s Oscar Robertson Player of the Year Trophy Friday at NRG Statium in Houston, Texa, the site of the Final Four.
He ranks second in the NCAA in scoring at 25.4 points per game, led Big 12 guards in rebounding at 5.7 per game while shooting 50 per cent from the field and 47 per cent from three-point range.
Hield received 144 votes on the ballot while Denzel Valentine of Michigan State finished second with 108 votes.
Robertson, the Hall of Fame guard won award three straight years at the University of Cincinnati. The award was renamed in his honour in 1998.
As expected, Hield has received numerous postseason awards thus far.
The senior guard was named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches first-team, a first-team All-American by the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA), Sports Illustrated and USA Today. His list of honours thus far on the year also includes the Sporting News Player of the Year, USBWA District VI Player of the Year, Big 12 Player of the Year and the All-Big 12 first-team.
Hield is also a finalist for a number of awards yet to be doled out including, one of 15 on the John R Wooden Award final ballot, and one of five finalists for the Naismith Trophy.
Valentine has won honors from the Associated Press, NABC, USA Today, Sports Illustrated and NBC Sports.
Hield has won Player of the Year for Sporting News and CBS Sports thus far.
The Sooners’ attention will now shift to Houston Texas for the Final Four. They will face the No.2 seed and South Region Champions, Villanova Wildcats.
The Sooners (29-7) and Wildcats (33-5) will face off Saturday, April 2 at the NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas at 6pm local time. The Wildcats are favoured by two points in the game which will be broadcast live on TBS.
