Jackson State University senior guard Daeshun Ruffin has been named the 2026 Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) Player of the Year. The announcement was made Friday by the conference office, and Ruffin was also selected for the First Team All-SWAC.
Ruffin stands out as one of only three players nationwide to average at least 20 points and five assists per game during the regular season. He tied for third in scoring with an average of 23.3 points per game and contributed 5.3 assists per game for Jackson State. Throughout the season, he reached double figures in scoring in 19 out of his last 20 games, missing only when he exited early during the season finale against Mississippi Valley State.
Over the course of the season, Ruffin scored at least 30 points on eight occasions, including four conference matchups. He recorded five or more assists in 16 games and reached double-digit assists three times—twice with 10 each against Alabama State and Alabama A&M on their home courts, followed by a career-high 16 assists against Texas Southern. In each of those games, he posted a double-double: “He recorded double doubles in all three of those games, scoring 39 points against Alabama (10 assists), 23 points against Alabama State (10 assists), and 22 points against Texas Southern (16 assists).”
Defensively, Ruffin registered at least three steals six times this season, achieving a season-best four steals versus Bethune-Cookman.
As the regular season concludes this week, Ruffin is nationally ranked in several statistical categories including fourth in points per game, fifth in free throws made, eighth in free throw attempts, tenth in field goal attempts, eleventh in total points scored, thirty-seventh in field goals made, forty-second in assists per game, sixty-third in total assists, one hundred twenty-fourth in free throw percentage, one hundred thirty-fifth in minutes played per game, one hundred thirty-seventh both for steals per game and total steals, two hundred seventy-third for double-doubles achieved throughout the year; he is also ranked three hundred third for field goal percentage and three hundred nineteenth for assist-to-turnover ratio.
Within SWAC play specifically, Ruffin leads all players in free throw attempts, free throws made and scoring average while placing among the top three across other key statistical categories.
Jackson State will begin its conference tournament campaign Tuesday night at 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time in Atlanta against either Grambling State or Mississippi Valley State.
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