Pac-12 Conference Men's Basketball Defensive Player of the Year

The Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year is an annual college basketball award presented to the top defensive player in men's basketball in the Pac-12 Conference. The winner is selected by conference coaches, who are not allowed to vote for players on their own team.^[1] The award began in 1984,^[2] when the conference consisted of 10 teams and was known as the Pacific-10.^[3] It stopped being issued starting in 1988 but was restarted in 2008.^[4][5] The conference added two teams and became the Pac-12 in 2011.^[3]

Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year
Awarded for	the top defensive player in men's basketball in the Pac-12
Country	United States
Presented by	Pac-12 Conference
First awarded	1983
Currently held by	Adem Bona, UCLA

Jorge Gutiérrez of California (2012) and Evan Mobley of USC (2021) are the only players to also win the Pac-12 Player of the Year in the same season.^[2][6] Gary Payton won both awards in separate seasons with Oregon State, capturing the defensive honor as a freshman in 1987 and the conference player of the year as a senior in 1990.^[7][8] He credited Beavers coach Ralph Miller with molding him into a standout defender. Payton played 17 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), and became the only point guard to be named the NBA Defensive Player of the Year.^[7] His son, Gary Payton II, later played with Oregon State as well, and was voted the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year in 2015 and 2016.^[9] He and Matisse Thybulle (2018, 2019) are the only repeat winners of the award.^[10]

Winners

 

Gary Payton II won the award in 2015 and 2016.

 

Matisse Thybulle won the award in 2018 and 2019.

 

Tyler Bey won the award in 2020.

Season	Player	School	Class	Ref
1983–84	Butch Hays	California	Senior	^[11]
1984–85	Nigel Miguel	UCLA	Senior	^[5]
1985–86	Keith Morrison	Washington State	Senior	^[3]
1986–87	Gary Payton	Oregon State	Freshman	^[4]
2007–08	Russell Westbrook	UCLA	Sophomore	^[5]
2008–09	Taj Gibson	USC	Junior	^[12]
2009–10	Seth Tarver	Oregon State	Senior	^[3]
2010–11	Marcus Simmons	USC	Senior	^[12]
2011–12	Jorge Gutiérrez	California	Senior	^[11]
2012–13	André Roberson	Colorado	Senior	^[3]
2013–14	Jordan Bachynski	Arizona State	Senior	^[3]
2014–15	Gary Payton II	Oregon State	Junior	^[4]
2015–16	Gary Payton II (2)	Oregon State	Senior	^[13]
2016–17	Jordan Bell	Oregon	Junior	^[14]
2017–18	Matisse Thybulle	Washington	Junior	^[9]
2018–19	Matisse Thybulle (2)	Washington	Senior	^[10]
2019–20	Tyler Bey	Colorado	Junior	^[15]
2020–21	Evan Mobley	USC	Freshman	^[16]
2021–22	Christian Koloko	Arizona	Sophomore	^[17]
2022–23	Jaylen Clark	UCLA	Junior	^[18]
2023–24	Adem Bona	UCLA	Sophomore	^[19]

Winners by school

School	Winners	Years
Oregon State	4	1987, 2010, 2015, 2016
UCLA	4	1985, 2008, 2023, 2024
USC	3	2009, 2011, 2021
California	2	1984, 2012
Colorado	2	2013, 2020
Washington	2	2018, 2019
Arizona	1	2022
Arizona State	1	2014
Oregon	1	2017
Washington State	1	1986
Stanford	0	—
Utah	0	—

References

1. (PDF). Pac-12 Conference. pp. 105–06. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 20, 2016. Retrieved February 5, 2016.
2. Faraudo, Jeff (March 5, 2012). "Basketball: Gutierrez sweeps awards — is named Pac-12 Player of Year, Defensive Player of Year". ibabuzz.com. Bay Area News Group. from the original on February 5, 2016.
3. "Pac-12 Conference 2015–16 Men's Basketball Media Guide". Pac-12 Conference. 2015. p. 5. Retrieved February 1, 2016.
4. Letourneau, Connor (March 9, 2015). "Gary Payton II, Oregon State Beavers guard, named first team All-Pac-12, Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year". The Oregonian. from the original on March 9, 2016.
5. . CSTV.com. March 10, 2008. Archived from the original on February 5, 2016.
6. Kartje, Ryan (March 9, 2021). "USC's Evan Mobley joins Anthony Davis in making college basketball history". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 10, 2021.
7. Gress, Steve (September 4, 2013). "Looking back at The Glove". Corvallis Gazette-Times. from the original on December 31, 2014.
8. Buker, Paul (August 11, 2009). "Ex-Oregon State great Gary Payton will be inducted into Oregon Sports Hall of Fame". The Oregonian. Archived from the original on February 5, 2016.
9. "2017-18 Pac-12 Men's Basketball All-Conference individual honors" (Press release). Pac-12 Conference. March 5, 2018. from the original on March 10, 2018.
10. "Pac-12 announces 2018-19 Men's Basketball annual major awards" (Press release). Pac-12 Conference. March 11, 2019. Retrieved March 11, 2019.
11. Finley, Patrick (March 6, 2012). "Pac-12 basketball: Player of the Year starts with 'D'". Arizona Daily Star. from the original on May 10, 2017.
12. Lev, Michael (March 7, 2011). "USC's Marcus Simmons named Pac-10 DPOY". The Orange County Register. from the original on February 5, 2016.
13. Letourneau, Connor (March 7, 2016). "Cal's Jaylen Brown named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year". San Francisco Chronicle. from the original on May 23, 2016.
14. "2016-17 Pac-12 Men's Basketball All-Conference Honors" (Press release). Pac-12. March 6, 2017. from the original on March 8, 2017.
15. "Pac-12 announces 2019-20 Men's Basketball annual major awards" (Press release). Pac-12 Conference. March 9, 2020. Retrieved March 9, 2020.
16. "2020-21 Pac-12 Men's Basketball All-Conference honors and Annual Performance Awards, presented by Nextiva" (Press release). Pac-12 Conference. March 9, 2021. Retrieved March 9, 2021.
17. "2021-22 Pac-12 Men's Basketball All-Conference honors and Annual Performance Awards, presented by Nextiva" (Press release). Pac-12 Conference. March 8, 2022. Retrieved March 8, 2022.
18. "2022-23 Pac-12 Men's Basketball All-Conference honors and Annual Performance Awards, presented by Nextiva" (Press release). Pac-12 Conference. March 7, 2023. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
19. "2023-24 Pac-12 Men's Basketball All-Conference honors and Annual Performance Awards, presented by Nextiva".