The Big Ten conference announced awards for the 2024-25 men's basketball season on Tuesday, with Anthony Leal winning the 2024-25 Sportsmanship Award.
Fifth year senior guard Anthony Leal has been one of the best defensive players in the conference and also averaged 3.2 points, 2.7 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.3 steals in the regular season per game.
After IU beat Ohio State on Saturday, the Hoosiers honored eight seniors including a Bloomington, Indiana native and fan favorite.
He thanked Mike Woodson and the Hoosier fan base for his time at Indiana over the past five years.
“On behalf of me and my teammates and everyone that you’ve ever coached, just want to say thank you so much for the sacrifices that you made for us,” Leal said. “I’m thankful for all you guys,” Leal said. “Thank you for embracing me and letting me live out my dream. It’s really meant the world to me how much support you guys all showed to me and my teammates.”
Bart Torvik published offensive and defensive box score plus/minus data that attempts to estimate the contribution by an individual player when they are on each end of the court. Based on Torvik’s data, Anthony Leal has the best defensive box score plus/minus in the Big Ten. Leal is also No. 13 in the overall in the nation.
Leal’s 5.4 defensive box score plus/minus is the best mark by an Indiana player since Victor Oladipo’s 5.5 in his 2013 Defensive Player of the Year season.