Early life and high school career
Baldwin grew up in Baltimore, Maryland and attended Saint Frances Academy. [1] His nickname, "Ace", was given to him as a baby, a reference to the film Paid in Full. [2] He was named the Metro Player of the Year after averaging 14 points, six assists, four rebounds, and four steals per game during his junior season. [3] Baldwin repeated as the co-Player of the Year as a senior. [4] He was rated a four-star recruit and committed to playing college basketball for VCU over offers from Virginia, Villanova, Georgetown, Maryland, Kansas State, and Seton Hall. [5]
College career
Baldwin started all 26 of the VCU Rams' games during his freshman season and averaged 6.7 points, 4.4 assists, and 3.2 rebounds per game. [6] [7] Following a 19-7 regular season, Baldwin's VCU team clinched an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament, but forfeited following a COVID-19 outbreak on the team. [8]
The start to Baldwin's sophomore season was delayed due to a ruptured Achilles tendon suffered in the offseason. [9] He returned in December and was named second-team All-Atlantic 10 Conference after averaging 11.4 points, 5.5 assists, and 2.5 steals per game. [10]
As a junior, Baldwin averaged 12.7 points, 5.8 assists, and 2.2 steals per game. On February 3, 2023, Baldwin notched a career high 37 points in a 73-65 victory over Saint Louis. [11] On March 12, 2023, Baldwin scored 16 points and notched 7 assists in the Atlantic 10 Championship game, in which VCU defeated Dayton 68-56. He scored 13 points in his first and only NCAA Tournament game, a 63-51 loss to Saint Mary's. [12]
He was named the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year, the Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Year, and first-team All-Atlantic 10. [13] Baldwin entered the NCAA transfer portal after the season following the departure of VCU head coach Mike Rhoades. [14]
On April 9, 2023, Baldwin announced that he would be transferring to Penn State for his senior season, joining his former coach Mike Rhoades. [15] As a senior, Baldwin averaged 14.2 points, 6.0 assists, 2.1 rebounds, and 2.7 steals per game. [16] On January 10, 2024, Baldwin set a career-high and tied a Penn State record with eight steals in a 76-72 loss to Northwestern. [17] Following the regular season, Baldwin was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, and a semifinalist for the Naismith National Defensive Player of the Year. [18]
This page is based on this
Wikipedia article Text is available under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
