Indiana’s top target on its class of 2021 recruiting board earned the honor of being the top player in the state of Indiana.
Averaging 25.8 points, 9.6 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 1.6 blocks and 1.1 steals, Kaufman helped lead Silver Creek (Sellersburg, Ind.) to a 25-2 mark before the season was interrupted. The 6-foot-9 Kaufman shot 64 percent from the floor overall, including 40 percent from three-point range.
The award can be won by players in any class, and Kaufman is just the fifth junior to ever receive the honor. The last two winners — Trayce Jackson-Davis and Romeo Langford — attended Indiana.
The full release is below.
CHICAGO (March 26, 2020) — In its 35th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, today announced Trey Kaufman of Silver Creek High School as its 2019-20 Gatorade Indiana Boys Basketball Player of the Year. Kaufman is the first Gatorade Indiana Boys Basketball Player of the Year to be chosen from Silver Creek High School.
The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field, distinguishes Kaufman as Indiana’s best high school boys basketball player. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Boys Basketball Player of the Year award, Kaufman joins an elite alumni association of past state boys basketball award winners, including Karl-Anthony Towns (2012-13 & 2013-14, St. Joseph High School, N.J.), Dwight Howard (2003-04, Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy, Ga.), Chris Bosh (2001-02, Lincoln High School, Texas), Paul Pierce (1994-95, Inglewood High School, Calif.), Chauncey Billups (1993-94 & 1994-95, George Washington High School, Colo.) and Jason Kidd (1991-92, St. Joseph Notre Dame High School, Calif.).
The 6-foot-9, 215-pound junior forward led the Dragons to a 25-2 record and a berth in the Class 3A regional semifinals at the time of his selection. Kaufman averaged 25.8 points, 9.6 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 1.6 blocks and 1.1 steals through 27 games as Silver Creek pursued its second straight state title. Ranked as the nation’s No. 28 recruit in the Class of 2021 by 247Sports, he entered the regional semifinals with 1,243 points in his prep basketball career.
Kaufman has volunteered locally as a youth basketball coach. “Trey has 3-point range, can put it on the floor and at 6-9 can obviously score in the paint,” said Jim Shannon, head coach of New Albany High. “He takes a pretty good beating from the opposing team each game, but I have never seen him lose his cool.”
Kaufman has maintained a 4.0 GPA in the classroom and ranks No. 1 in his class. He will begin his senior year of high school this fall.
Kaufman joins Gatorade Indiana Boys Basketball Players of the Year Trayce Jackson-Davis (2018-19, Center Grove High School), Romeo Langford (2017-18, New Albany High School), Brian Bowen (2016-17, La Lumiere School), Kyle Guy (2015-16, Lawrence Central High School) and Caleb Swanigan (2014-15, Homestead High School) among the state’s list of former award winners.
The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. The selection process is administered by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, which work with top sport-specific experts and a media advisory board of accomplished, veteran prep sports journalists to determine the state winners in each sport.
The 2019-2020 Gatorade National Boys Basketball Player of the Year announcement has been temporarily postponed due to the Coronavirus pandemic. To ensure the safety of everyone involved, The Gatorade Company will follow the guidance of experts and health officials as it determines the appropriate time to announce this year’s winner.
As a part of Gatorade’s cause marketing platform “Play it Forward,” Kaufman also has the opportunity to award a $1,000 grant to a local or national youth sports organization of his choosing. He is also eligible to submit an essay to win one of twelve $10,000 spotlight grants for the organization of choice, which will be announced throughout the year.
Since the program’s inception in 1985, Gatorade Player of the Year award recipients have won hundreds of professional and college championships, and many have also turned into pillars in their communities, becoming coaches, business owners and educators.
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