Championship Drive Producing Big Results

Rhymes Heating and Cooling Hot Players of the Week

(St. Louis, MO) – The championship drive is on in both the Missouri Valley and Ohio Valley Conferences. Three teams are tied for first place in the Valley, with another team just one game back. There is a two-way tie in the OVC with two teams one game back.

With the championship drive on, there were some outstanding individual performances, and here are this week’s Rhymes Heating & Cooling Hot Players of the Week.

Missouri Valley Conference

Elijah Childs’ game has been growing as Bradley’s season has turned around. The Braves (16-13, 8-8) dropped their first five Valley contests but have fought their way back to .500. Last week Childs set a career high of 24 points in one game and recorded a double-double in the other.

The 6’7 sophomore earned his second ‘Player of the Week’ honor by averaging 18.5 points and 11 rebounds in BU’s two contests.

Another second time winner is Northern Iowa’s A.J. Green. The Panthers have won four straight games and stand one game out of first place. During UNI’s two victories the Panther freshman scored a total of 32 points and earned the ‘Newcomer of the Week’ award.

Green’s 15.3 points per game average is the league’s sixth best scoring average.

Ohio Valley Conference

With Ja Morant, the spectacular has become the mundane. The no-doubt OVC ‘Player of the Year’ averaged 26.5 points and 10.5 assists in Murray State’s two victories. The Racers (23-4, 14-2) are tied with Belmont for the OVC’s top spot and Morant leads the league in scoring (24.4 points per game) and leads the nation in assists (10.2 per contest).

This week Morant is collecting his eighth ‘Player of the Week’ award.

Nick Muszynski is dominating the weekly freshman award almost at Ja Morant levels. Belmont’s 6’11 center recorded games of 18 and 19 points as the Bruins (23-4, 14-2) kept pace with the Racers.

Muszynski is this week’s ‘Freshman of the Week’. It marks the sixth time OVC’s shot blocking leader has received the weekly honor. Muszynski and Morant are leaders in the championship drive for the co-leaders.

Two players share this week’s ‘Newcomer of the Week’ honors. First time winner Darnell Cowart and for the second straight week Craig Randall is a ‘Co-Newcomer of the Week’.

Cowart has been growing into the top inside presence for Murray State and last week averaged 17.5 points and 12 rebounds for the league’s co-leaders.

Meanwhile Randall recorded a career high 33 points in one game leading to a 26 point-per-game average. The Skyhawks have won four of their last six games. The Memphis transfer has only played in the last eight UTM games.