Ace Bailey college career: Rutgers star's stats, accolades, and more explored following NBA draft announcement

NCAA Basketball: Big Ten Conference Tournament First Round-Rutgers vs USC - Source: Imagn

Rutgers freshman Ace Bailey officially declared for the 2025 NBA draft on Wednesday. In just one college season, he established himself as a dominant force and is projected to be one of the top rookies in the NBA next season.

According to most media outlets, including CBS Sports, Ace Bailey is projected to be a top-five pick in the draft. Although Bailey did not get the opportunity to compete in March Madness, he showed his exceptional play against top opponents throughout the season.

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Here is everything you need to know about the young star ahead of the 2025 NBA draft on June 25th.

Exploring Ace Bailey's stats, accolades, and more following NBA draft announcement

Ace Bailey's stats

As a freshman, Bailey played 30 games for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, starting all of them. In those games, he averaged 17.6 points, 7.2 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.3 blocks, and 1.0 steals per game. He was the second-leading scorer on the team behind Dylan Harper. Notably, Harper is one of the few players who is projected to go before Bailey in the draft.

Bailey led the team in rebounds and blocks per game this season. His field percentage was not anything spectacular this season as he shot at a 46.0% rate from the field and 34.6% from three. He was a 69.2% free-throw shooter.

Ace Bailey's accolades

Before Bailey got to college, he was recognized as a McDonald's All-American in 2024. In his first and only college season at Rutgers, he was named to the All-Big Ten Third-Team.

Additionally, he was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team. He is now projected to be a top-five pick in the 2025 NBA draft.

What Ace Bailey brings to the NBA

Bailey is a 6'10" forward with strong pull-up shooting ability. His length allows him to pull up at any point on the court and shoot fadeaway jumpers over opposing defenders. He has a soft touch with the ball and is most effective from the midrange.

Bailey displayed exceptional athleticism for his size, and he plays with a lot of energy. The biggest scouting concerns in Bailey's game have to do with his shot creation. He has loose ball handling and struggles to finish at the rim despite his size.

A scouting report at Yahoo described him as having "tunnel vision." As a result, he sometimes fails to make the right decision. However, he still has great tools and should be a top prospect in the 2025 NBA draft.

About the author

Alexander O'Reilly is a journalist at Sportskeeda from Kingston, Ontario with over seven years in the field at companies including SenShot, RVBlogger, Monarch Media, WordAgents, GSeC LLC, and IGC.

His favorite college team is Duke, and his favorite sporting memory was Duke winning March Madness in 2010. JJ Redick was Alex's favorite college player when he was young but more recently, Caleb Williams gets the nod. As the Chicago Bears are Alex's favorite NFL team, this was a perfect match.

Alex's proudest moment came when he was interviewed by a radio station in Ottawa on his opinion on recent moves by the Ottawa Senators, which gave him a confidence boost and the knowledge that he could succeed as a writer.

Aside from sports, Alex likes to spend his time playing games. He is also very passionate about running and strives to improve at the half and full marathon distances.

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Edited by Dipayan Moitra