Pritchard Named A.P. First Team All-American, First Player in School History

From Associated Press:

EUGENE, Ore. – Payton Pritchard added to his growing list of accolades by coming the first Associated Press first team All-American in school history on Friday.

The senior guard was joined on the first team by Luka Garza of Iowa, Markus Howard of Marquette, Myles Powell of Seton Hall and Obi Toppin of Dayton.

Prior to Friday, four Ducks had earned All-America honors by the Associated Press, but none were a first team selection.

University of Oregon Associated Press All-Americans

Ron Lee, 1975, 3rd Team

Ron Lee, 1976, 2nd Team

Luke Jackson, 2004, 2nd Team

Aaron Brooks, 2007, 3rd Team

Dillon Brooks, 2017, 2nd Team

Payton Pritchard, 2020, 1st Team

After being named to the Sporting News’ All-America first team last week, Pritchard is now halfway to becoming the first consensus All-American at Oregon in 80 years. The four national programs that currently account for consensus status are the Sporting News, Associated Press, NABC and USBWA. The NABC and USBWA teams will be announced next week.

Pritchard would become the sixth consensus All-American in program history.

University of Oregon Consensus All-Americans

Eddie Durno, 1921

Hugh Latham. 1924

Algot Westergren, 1926

Urgel Wintermute, 1939

John Dick, 1940

The 2020 Pac-12 Player of the Year, Pritchard was one of just three players nationally to average at least 20 points, four rebounds and five assists per game.

He 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. The previous three players to do that were all consensus first team All-Americans and Payton and Terry were National Players of the Year.

The West Linn, Ore., native was one of just four players nationally who led his conference in both scoring (20.5 points per game) and assists (5.6 per game).

Pritchard is one of five national finalists for both the Naismith Trophy and the Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Award. He is also one of 15 student-athletes on the Wooden Award National Ballot and one of 12 midseason finalists for the Oscar Robertson Trophy.

Named the national player of the week by three different organizations this season (Naismith Trophy, Oscar Robertson Trophy, NCAA.com) and twice named Pac-12 player of the week, Pritchard led the nation with 140 consecutive starts.

He is the only player in Pac-12 history with 1,900 career points, 600 career assists and 500 career rebounds.

Pritchard finished his career as school record holder in assists (659), wins (105) games played (144) and games started (140). He ranks second in both UO career steals with 211 and three-pointers with 288. His 1,938 career points rank fourth all-time at Oregon.

Pritchard scored at least 20 points against 10 different Pac-12 opponents this season.

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