March 25, 2020

THE 2020 AWARD

BOSTON, MA -- Oregon's Payton Pritchard is the recipient of the 2019-20 Lute Olson Award, which is presented annually to the nation's top Division I player.

Pritchard helped Oregon to an outright Pac-12 regular season title. The Ducks finished 24-7 overall (13-5 in the conference) and the 6-foot-2 senior was one just three players in the nation to average at least 20 points, four rebounds and five assists per game.

Pritchard joined Gary Payton (Oregon State, 1989-90), Damon Stoudamire (Arizona, 1994-95) and Jason Terry (Arizona, 1998-99) as the only players in conference history to lead the league in both scoring and assists. Heis also led the league with 88 three-pointers, joining Stoudamire (112) as the only players to top all three categories in the same season.

The award is named in honor of Hall of Fame coach Lute Olson, who won 776 games in 34 seasons, 24 of which were spent at the University of Arizona. During that stretch he led the Wildcats to 11 Pac-10 Conference titles, 23 consecutive NCAA Tournaments, four Final Four appearances and a National Championship in 1997.

Olson is one of just 25 head coaches in NCAA history to win 700 or more games (all divisions) and ranks ninth on the Division I career victories list. He finished with a winning percentage of .731 and is the all-time winningest coach in Arizona history with 587-190 record (.755). He was named Pac-10 Coach of the Year seven times. Olson also guided Arizona to 20 consecutive 20-win seasons, and is one of only three coaches in NCAA history to record 29 or more 20-win seasons.

2019-20 LUTE OLSON ALL-AMERICA TEAM