Weekly Awards: Texas Tech shines, Matthew Graves returns
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Paul McNeil Jr., NC State
Paul McNeil caught fire this week. After a rough start to the month of December and a week where Will Wade absolutely torched him and his teammates for being soft, McNeil ripped off 47 points and his a program record 11 threes in a win over Texas Southern, adding 10 rebounds to the mix for good measure. He followed that up on Sunday by scoring 19 points and hitting six threes in a blowout win over Ole Miss.
In the four games prior to Texas Southern, McNeil scored a combined total of 20 points and shot 5-for-20 from three.
TEAM OF THE WEEK: Texas Tech Red Raiders
The Red Raiders had one of the most impressive wins of the season on Saturday night, overcoming foul issues and injury issues that forced head coach Grant McCasland into playing seldom used bench pieces as they came back from down 17 points in the second half to knock off Duke in Madison Square Garden:
COACH OF THE WEEK: Matthew Graves, Indiana State
This has much less to do with what happened on the court as it does with the fact that Graves was actually on the court. Graves underwent a triple bypass in October, an issue that held him out of competition until this week. He’s healthy now, he’s back on the sideline and one of the good guys in college basketball has returned to the job he loves.
MID-MAJOR PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Zach Cleveland, Liberty
Liberty played one game this week, and it was a big one: The Flames knocked off Dayton in Dayton, and Cleveland was the biggest reason why. He finished the night with 12 points, 16 boards, seven assists, three blocks and two steals. That’s just the fourth time since 1938 that a player has put up that stat-line in a Division I game.
MID-MAJOR TEAM OF THE WEEK: Howard Bison
Howard picked up a pair of impressive road wins this week, going into Drexel and UNC Wilmington and coming home with wins. That comes of the heels of beating their rival, Hampton, last Saturday. It’s a good time to be a Bison.
MID-MAJOR COACH OF THE WEEK: Chris Victor, Seattle
Chris Victor is quickly becoming one of the hottest coaching names on the West Coast, as Seattle has started out the season with a 10-2 record. Their win on Wednesday at UC Davis was impressive, but following that up two nights later by beating a full strength Washington group is the statement win the Redhawks needed.
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