Best Win of the Week
Georgia Gwinnett over #20 Dalton State
In the same week where the Grizzlies were ranked for the 1st time, the 1st year program also knocked off it’s 1st Top 25 opponent in #20 Dalton State! They are still without the services of Anthony Bittar, but Devontre Chaney and the Grizzlies have still looked really good. Chaney had 18pts, 6rebs, 3assts in the win.
Upset of the Week
Shawnee State upsets #13 Georgetown (KY)
Not the biggest upset of the week, but an important one for Shawnee State as they look to build momentum headed into RSC play. First year HC, Fred Lymas has the Bears playing good ball early.
Best Game of the Week
#2 Arizona Christian beats #12 College of Idaho
Top 25 matchup, with a big late comeback and a little bit of controversy? This was a great rematch of the NAIA Semifinal’s from last season! ACU came back from down 15 in the 2nd half, gets fouled on a 3pt shot late to force OT and then win in OT! This was a great game between two really good teams!
Offense of the Week
Indiana Tech
Tech has been rolling all season as they currently sit 7-1 and ranked 14th. In a WHAC win over Cleary (MI), the Warriors scored 103pts while shooting 57% from the field, 47% from 3 and had 25 assists on 41 made shots.
MVP of the Week
Jesse Van Kalsbeek (Northwestern)
It’s his 3rd time winning our MVP of the Week, but Jesse continues to put up big numbers and add to his National POY resume. The Sophomore, in two wins at ‘The Show’, including a Top 10 win over #8 Ave Maria (FL) averaged 24ppg, 12rpg, 4.5apg. He dropped 27pts and added in 15rebs and 6assts in the win over Ave Maria!
Defensive MVP
Stephane Djiya (Oakland City)
Ten blocks in a big Oakland City win over Faulkner at ‘The Show’ has Djiya as our Defensive MVP of the week!
Coach of the Week
Patrick Jensen (Montana Western)
This one is a bit overdue with the season the Bulldogs are having, but with another huge win, this time beating #4 Montana Tech in a Frontier Conference road game, after beating previous #1 College of Idaho, Coach Jensen has the Bulldogs sitting atop the FC Standings and playing really great basketball!
Defense of the Week
Pikeville (KY)
The Bears have won 7-straight games as Coach Tigh Compton has righted the ship after a sluggish start to the season. This weekend in ‘The Show’ the Bears held IU East to 59pts (avg 87ppg on season). They also held #7 Life (GA) to just 51pts (avg 78ppg) with giving up just 18pts in the 2nd half of that game. Freshman, Zion Blevins has been playing really well for UPike!
Pippen of the Week
Emanuel Steward (Montana Western)
Emanuel Steward has been really scoring the ball well for the Bulldogs, but in the win over #4 Montana Tech, it may have been his most complete game of the season as he had 22pts, 10assists and 4rebs to lead Montana Western to a big Frontier Conference road dub!
Onions of the Week
Musa Murithi (Spartanburg Methodist)
Down 60-61 with 3 seconds to play, coach Blake Jackson drew up a play for RS-Freshman, Musa Murithi, who answered the call by hitting the game winner!
Sniper of the Week
JJ Vaughn (Columbia International)
An always dangerous shooter, In three games this week, JJ Vaughn hit 13-3’s while going 7-11 in the Rams win over UT Southern at ‘The Show’!
Stock Riser
Campbellsville (KY)
I get that it is a bit silly to have an 11-0 team a “stock riser”. HOWEVER, Campbellsville 77-43 win over RV Mobile was a statement win. The Mid-South Conference has combined to go 59-10 to start the season with 5 of it’s 7 teams sitting with 2-losses or less. Felt Campbellsville really showed how good they truly are this past weekend.
Rodman of the Week
Aiden Olmstead (BenU – Mesa)
The Redhawks stay undefeated on the season as they picked up a big win over Eastern Oregon. In the game Aiden had a 2pt, 13 rebound performance in 17 minutes coming off the bench!
Sophomore of the Week
Deion Wesson (Williams Baptist)
Deion is averaging 28.9ppg and 4.6apg for the Eagles. In two games this week he averaged 30ppg, 4rpg, 4apg.
Freshman of the Week
Aman Haynes (HIU)
The Freshman, in wins over #20 Oregon Tech and Southern Oregon, averaged 16ppg, 6.5rpg including a 20pt, 9reb performance in the win over SOU!
Dunk of the Week
JJ Rueckert (TN Wesleyan)
Against D1 Tennessee State, Rueckert caught a body on a baseline out of bounds lob play set that the Bulldogs have ran quite a bit this season!
