cj mccollum

College Basketball: Gordon, Wolters, McDermott Win Weekly Awards

Greg Mengelt — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 08:08:31 -0800

A review of the week that was in college basketball focusing on the best (and worst) performances. Check in every Monday morning for CollegeHoops.net's weekly awards by Greg Mengelt.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Drew Gordon, New Mexico Senior Forward: Gordon scored 17 points and snatched 17 boards in Wednesday’s 77-67 upset win at No. 13 San Diego State on Wednesday – and that wasn’t even his best performance of the week.

On Saturday, Gordon led the Lobos to a 65-45 win over No. 11 UNLV – and a 2-game lead in the Mountain West Conference – with 27 points and 20 rebounds. Gordon, who went 13-for-20 from the field, scored 10 straight points during as 16-1 run as New Mexico outscored the Rebels 29-9 in the final 12 minutes.

“He put on a performance that hasn’t been seen in this place in a long time, if ever,” New Mexico coach Steve Alford said. “He was 27-20 against not just a team, but a team in the top-15 in the country. That’s pretty special.”

In the victory, Gordon became the fifth player in the last 20 years to have at least 20 points and 20 rebounds against a ranked team. For the season, the senior forward is averaging 12.7 points (on 51.7 percent shooting), 11.1 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 1.2 blocks and 1.2 steals per game.

MID-MAJOR PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Nate Wolters, South Dakota State Junior Guard: Wolters continued his impressive season with two more incredible all-around performances in a pair of Jackrabbit wins last week.

On Wednesday, Wolters hit 14 of his 18 field goal attempts and went for 30 points, five assists, three rebounds and three steals in South Dakota State’s 80-57 Summit League win over rival North Dakota State.

“Nate’s a great player,” SDSU coach Scott Nagy said. “If he’s making jump shots, he’s nearly impossible to guard.”

Wolters then had a 22-point, 8-assist, 6-rebound performance as the Jackrabbits ripped Buffalo, 86-65 as part of the BracketBuster. Wolters is averaging 21.8 points, 6.1 assists, five rebounds and 1.6 steals this season.

TEAM OF THE WEEK

Wichita State: The Shockers ended last week with a 21-point romp over rival Creighton to take over first place in the Missouri Valley.

WSU then clinched at least a share of the MVC regular-season championship with a 73-58 win over Missouri State on Wednesday, then shot 64 percent from the field in a road victory over Southern Conference leader Davidson on Saturday for its sixth straight win.

“This gives us a quality win and will enable us to move up, if not (into) the top-15, then the top-20,” Shockers junior Demetric Williams told the Associated Press.

Joe Ragland scored 30 points – on 11-of-14 shooting – and grabbed seven boards in Saturday’s win.

“How about 30 points on 14 shots?” Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall asked. “You talk about efficiency.”

The Shockers, who have also won 14 of their last 15, can clinch the outright league title with a win at Illinois State on Wednesday.

SINGLE-GAME PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK

Doug McDermott, Creighton Sophomore Forward: McDermott led a BracketBuster comeback 81-79 win over Long Beach State on Saturday.

The Blue Jays trailed 76-69 with five minutes left. McDermott didn’t miss a shot from the field or the foul line in the second half, leading Creighton back during his 36-point, 11 rebound performance. Antoine Young capped the rally with a game-winning shot with one second left as Creighton improved to 23-5 on the season.

“Doug was on a mission tonight,” Creighton coach and Doug’s father, Greg McDermott said. “I felt his effort on the backboards fueled the rest of his game. Doug went and got some offensive rebounds and was able to finish plays.”

McDermott, who is second in the nation at 23.2 points per game, hit 14 of his 20 field goal attempts in the win. For the season, he’s shooting 61.7 percent from the field, 48.9 from the 3-point line and 83.3 from the foul line. He’s also averaging 8.3 rebounds.

WIN OF THE WEEK

Murray State 65, Saint Mary’s 51: Three days after clinching the Ohio Valley regular-season championship with a 75-66 win at Southeast Missouri, the 14^th-ranked Racers left little doubt that it would be a factor in March with a 14-point win over the No. 16 Gaels on Saturday.

“This is definitely a confidence-builder,” MSU senior Jewuan Long told the AP. “It’s a ranked team, so it lets you know that you are as good as the rankings say you are. It gives us confidence to know we can play with other teams in bigger conferences, so we definitely have more confidence.”

Isaiah Canaan scored 17 of his 23 points in the second half and the Racers shot 58 percent from the floor, including 9-of-17 from the 3-point line in Saturday’s win.

The OVC champions have a chance to avenge their only loss of the season on Thursday when they travel to Tennessee State, which defeated the Racers 72-68 on Feb. 9.

UPSET OF THE WEEK

Kansas State 57, Baylor 56: Kansas State was in need of a big win – and it got it Saturday. Jordan Henriquez hit a layup with 1:55 to go and the Wildcats held Baylor scoreless the rest of the way, surviving a Quincy Miller 5-footer in the final seconds.

Kansas State, which had lost to Baylor in the final seconds in a 75-73 game on Jan. 10, evened its record at 7-7 in the Big 12 with the win, putting the Wildcats in a fifth-place tie with Texas.

Freshman Angel Rodriguez led the Wildcats with 15 points, six assists, four steals and a rebound in the win. The loss was Baylor’s first against an unranked team this season.

LOSS OF THE WEEK

Duke 78, North Carolina State 73: The Wolfpack had a chance to get a signature road win, but they couldn’t hold onto a 20 points lead in the final 12 minutes.

Duke had late 13-0 and 20-3 runs to erase the NC State lead and remain on top of the ACC. Meanwhile, the Wolfpack, who were later blown out at home by Florida State on Saturday, are fighting for their NCAA lives at 7-5 in league play.

“Well, I would say a tough night for us … a tough finish,” NC State coach Mark Gottfried said. “We have to be better late in games.”

PLAY OF THE WEEK

McCollum’s shot gets Lehigh back in Patriot League race: With his team tied with Bucknell tied at 53, there was no doubt who was going to take the shot for Lehigh.

McCollum, who led the Mountain Hawks in scoring (15), rebounding (7), assists (3), steals (3) and blocked shots (1), controlled the ball for the final 15 seconds. The junior guard, who is averaging 21.5 points and 6.7 rebounds, let the 3-point shot fly over Bucknell’s Cameron Ayers and found nothing but net with a half-second remaining to draw the Hawks within a game of the Bison in the Patriot League.

“I knew I was going to take the last shot,” McCollum said. “I just tried to make a play and luckily it went in.”

CollegeHoops.net Weekly Awards: Davies, McCollum, Cincinnati

Greg Mengelt — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 09:17:07 -0800

A review of the week that was in college basketball focusing on the best (and worst) performances. Check in every Monday morning for our weekly awards.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Brandon Davies, BYU Junior Forward: Davies scored 63 points and grabbed 42 rebounds during the Cougars’ 2-1 week.

In Tuesday’s win over Cal State-San Marcos, he finished with 14 points, 13 rebounds, four assists, two blocks and a steal. In Thursday’s 98-82 loss to St. Mary’s, Davies added 28 points, seven rebounds, five steals and a block.

The junior forward saved his finest performance for Saturday when he put up 21 points and ripped down 22 boards in BYU’s 88-52 victory over San Diego. The 22 rebounds was the most by a Cougar since Steve Trumbo’s 23 in January of 1982. His 20-20 performance was BYU’s first since 1974-75.

“His mindset is to help the team win any way he can, and when he’s playing that, we are hard to beat,” Cougar senior Charles Abuou said.

MID-MAJOR PLAYER OF THE WEEK

C.J. McCollum, Lehigh Junior Guard: McCollum – one of the nation’s best rebounding guards – earned his 14^th-career double-double with 22 points and 11 rebounds in the Mountain Hawks’ 76-67 at St. Peter’s on Wednesday. He also had 5 assists and two steals as Lehigh improved to 10-4.

On Saturday, McCollum exploded for 34 points on 13-of-21 shooting, 3-of-7 from 3-point range and 5-of-5 from the foul line. McCollum, who had five rebounds, two assists and two steals in the win, scored 20 of the Mountain Hawks’ 37 first-half points.

For the season, the 6-3 guard is averaging 20 points, six rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.3 steals per contest.

SINGLE-GAME PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK

Moe Harkless, St. John’s Freshman Forward: Harkless gave Red Storm fans a glimpse of the future with an eyebrow-raising 32-point, 13-rebound performance in Monday’s 91-67 win over Providence in Monday’s Big East opener. The St. John’s freshman made 14 of his 17 field goal attempts and added four assists and four steals.

TEAM OF THE WEEK

Cincinnati: The Bearcats went unbeaten without Yancy Gates, Cheikh Mbody and Octavius Ellis, including this week’s victories over Oklahoma (56-55) and at Pittsburgh (66-63) in their Big East opener.

Using a four-guard offense for much of the six games, Cincinnati shot nearly 47 percent from the field.

Sean Kilpatrick, Dion Dixon, Cashmere Wright and Jaquon Parker, who had 21 points in the win over Pitt, have each taken turns carrying the Bearcats during the winning streak.

“I’m just proud of my team,” Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin said. “They give extreme effort at all times. They are very easy to coach right now.”

“This is what UC basketball is all about,” Kilpatrick said. “We ground out wins any way we can. We scrap and we just run. That’s what we’re all about.”

UPSET OF THE WEEK

Princeton 75, Florida State 73, 3OT: Ian Hummer and Douglas Davis each scored 25 points as the Tigers went into Tallahassee and came away with a big road victory.

Princeton led 27-10 at the half and the game went into overtime at 47-aside. The Tigers then outscored the heavily-favored Seminoles 15-13 in the third overtime to improve to 7-7.

“The first half was crucial,” said Hammer, who also had 15 rebounds and three blocked shots. “I think it really shows the character of our team to come in on the road against a very good ACC team. To withstand a triple overtime win, it shows a lot of character. Hopefully we bring that into league play.”

WIN OF THE WEEK

Missouri State 77, Creighton 65: The defending Missouri Valley regular-season champions knocked off this year’s league favorite in both teams’ MVC openers.

The Bears beat Creighton twice a year ago, including a 67-66 victory on a Kyle Weems last-second shot in their second meeting. Weems was the culprit again this year. The reigning MVC Player of the year poured in a career-high 31 points to help down the No. 19 Blue Jays.

“Anybody who watched (the game), it’s clear the tougher team won,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott said. “They were first to the floor. They were more aggressive on both ends of the floor. They knew where they wanted to get the ball, and they got it there, and we didn’t do much to fight it.”

LOSS OF THE WEEK

Cincinnati 66, Pittsburgh 63: Sunday’s loss was Pitt’s third straight, including two Big East games and two at home, where the Panthers have been nearly unbeatable in the past.

“We can’t make excuses,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon told the Associated Press. “We need to find a way. We have the guys to get it done.”

The Panthers, who are 11-4 overall and 0-2 in conference play, have lost three times at the Peterson Events Center, where they were 166-13 all-time heading into this season.

PLAY OF THE WEEK

Stanford’s Josh Huestis’ block of Lazeric Jones in the final seconds of the Cardinal’s 60-59 win: UCLA had 12 chances to take the lead in the second half Thursday against Stanford – and failed on all 12 tries.

Huestis made certain the Bruins didn’t take their first lead in the waning seconds. The Cardinal sophomore swatted Jones’ free throw line jumper with three seconds left to lift Stanford to a 60-59 win in its Pac-12 opener.

“All I can say is it was an unbelievable finish for us,” Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins said. “I thought that the last possession, Josh Huestis came up as big as a young man could come up in that situation.”

“That’s a memorable one,” Huestis told the Associated Press. “Having that power to know that you can stop someone from taking the game-winning shot is a great feeling.”

Jones led all scorers with 26 points.

THE COLLEGE BASKETBALL LIST

THE NATION’S BEST UNHERALDED PLAYERS

Players who will never be All-Americans but make their teams better simply by stepping on the floor:

1. Brian Conklin, St. Louis PF (Sr.): Conklin is a college basketball coach’s dream. He shows up every night, shoots high percentages, plays defense and is clutch. He has nearly doubled his career scoring average (15.4 ppg this season), is shooting 66 percent from the field and 86 percent from the line. Conklin has only shot below 50 percent twice this season.

2. Lewis Jackson, Purdue PG (Sr.): Jackson rarely lights up the scoreboard, but he’s a great college basketball player in every other way. He penetrates and passes as well as about any other point guard in the country, and he may be the best on-ball defender for a point guard in the Big Ten. Yes, that includes Ohio State’s Aaron Craft.

3. Larry Anderson, Long Beach State SG (Sr.): Casper Ware and T.J. Robinson get the headlines, but the 49ers would not have beaten Pitt and Xavier without Anderson. The senior only takes good shots and makes them. He’s also a stellar passer and rebounder. Anderson ranks in the top 3 in scoring (15.1 ppg), rebounding (4.5), assists (3.5), steals (1.5), blocks (0.5) and leads the team in field goal percentage (53.5) and 3-point percentage (44.9).

4. Joe Burton, Oregon State PF (Jr.): Burton doesn’t look like a great basketball player and he doesn’t score a lot, but the Beaver junior does all of the little things. He rebounds hard (6.5 per game), plays defense (1.4 spg) and may be the nation’s best passing big man (a team-best 3.7 apg).

5. Romero Osby, Oklahoma SF (Jr.): Like Conklin, Osby is having a breakout season. At 10.8 points per game, he is more than doubling his career scoring averaging after transferring from Mississippi State. He is a rebounding machine, grabbing at least 10 boards in seven games this season, including an 18-rebound performance in the Sooners’ win over South Carolina State. Osby is averaging a team-best 8.8 rebounds for the 10-2 Sooners.