Jim Jackson to be inducted into National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame
Two-time consensus All-American guard Jim Jackson will be inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2021.
Jackson played three seasons at Ohio State from 1989-92 and is the only Buckeye to have been twice named the Big Ten Player of the Year, which came in 1991 and 1992.
Jackson scored the seventh-most points in his three-year career at Ohio State with 1,785, and his career average of 19.2 points per game are ninth-most in program history. His 718 total points in 1992 are the fifth-most scored by a Buckeye in a single season.
The Toledo, Ohio, native began his tenure at Ohio State on a terrific note and was named the conference’s Freshman of the Year in 1990 after averaging 16.1 points per game, helping get the Buckeyes to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in two years.
Jackson led the Buckeyes in scoring during each of his three seasons, including 18.9 points per game his sophomore season and a 22.4 points per-game clip during his junior season. He started all 93 games during his time as a Buckeye.
Ohio State made the NCAA Tournament during each season in which Jackson played, including back-to-back No. 1 seeds under head coach Randy Ayers in 1991 and 1992, the same seasons in which the team won the Big Ten Championship. The Buckeyes made it as far as the Elite Eight in 1992.
Jackson's name is commonplace within Ohio State leaderboards. Jackson's 26 field goals attempted against Connecticut in 1992 are tied with Steve Howell for the most by any Buckeye in program history during an NCAA Tournament game.
Following his junior season, Jackson was selected with the No. 4 overall pick by the Dallas Mavericks in the 1992 NBA draft, and is one of 24 former Buckeyes to have been drafted in the first round.
He went on to play 14 seasons in the NBA with 12 different teams, and finished with 12,690 points, 4,152 rebounds and 2,851 assists.
Jackson was inducted into the Ohio State University Athletics Hall of Fame in 1998, and his jersey No. 22 was retired in February of 2001.
Alongside Jackson in the 16th induction class of the Hall of Fame's history includes Maryland's late forward Len Bias, UCLA's forward David Greenwood, Bradley's guard Hersey Hawkins, North Carolina's forward Antawn Jamison, Kansas' forward Paul Pierce and coaches Rick Byrd and Tom Penders.