Jalen Pickett

Jalen Pickett (born October 22, 1999) is an American college basketball player for the Siena Saints of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC).

Pickett played high school basketball for the Aquinas Institute in Rochester, New York. In his junior season, he led his team to a New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA) Class AA championship while earning most valuable player (MVP) honors. As a senior, Pickett averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds per game, reaching the Class AA Federation Final. He played for the Albany-based program City Rocks on the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) circuit and was teammates with five-star recruit Isaiah Stewart. Playing for the City Rocks, Pickett led the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League in player efficiency. For academic reasons, he completed a postgraduate year, during which he played for SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio. Pickett averaged 14 points, 6.3 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 2.1 steals per game. He became academically eligible to play in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Pickett was considered a three-star recruit by Rivals and received few offers from NCAA Division I programs. He committed to Siena to play for first-year head coach Jamion Christian.

On February 17, 2019, Pickett had a career-high 46 points and 13 assists in a 107–100 triple overtime loss to Quinnipiac. Pickett was named Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Rookie of the Week 11 times, a league record. As a freshman, Pickett averaged 15.8 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.1 steals and 6.7 assists per game, which ranked ninth nationally. Pickett was named First-team All-MAAC and MAAC Rookie of the Year. After the season he declared for the 2019 NBA Draft and participated in the G League Elite Camp but ultimately decided to return to Siena.

Pickett missed a game against Colgate on November 30, for a violation of team rules. On February 14, 2020, he scored a season-high 27 points in a 73-64 win over Rider. At the close of the 2019–20 regular season, Pickett was named the MAAC Player of the Year. He helped the team win the MAAC regular season championship, averaging 15.1 points and a league-leading 6.0 assists per game while shooting 37.4 percent from three-point range.

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