Missouri Valley
MVC/OVC – Brand New Award Winners
All Brand New Award Winners
(St. Louis, MO) – With a little less than two months left in the season, the Missouri Valley and Ohio Valley Conferences are still finding brand new award winners. This week’s list of honorees are all first time recipients.
Some scored a lot and some in crunch time and some did both. Both leagues are seeing a rising tide of impressive players and performances.
Players of the Week
Northern Iowa’s Trey Campbell has been a steady force in the Panther lineup for years, but last week exploded for thirty points during UNI’s win at Illinois State. The Valley’s ‘Player of the Week’ scored all game long, but it was his offensive surge that set up teammate Tytan Anderson’s game-winning drive.
All Anias Futrell accomplished last week was two, twenty-point, ten rebound performances. The 6’5 Lindenwood Lion wing scored 24 points during a win over Tennessee State and added 26 points in the Lions’ win over UT Martin. Making ten triples during the two games catapulted Futrell into the OVC’s ‘Player of the Week’ category. He grabbed exactly ten rebounds in each game.
Brand New Newcomer Award Winners
Belmont’s Carter Whitt scored 25 points, with eight coming in crunch time during the Bruins’ win at Indiana State. The Wake Forest transfer was unstoppable down the stretch and is the Valley’s ‘Newcomer of the Week’. His clutch free throws against SIU also clinched a home win for Belmont.
Futrell is the OVC ‘Newcomer of the Week’. He is the first Lion to claim the award this season. Of his ten three-pointers, several game from the Hyland Center’s Lindenwood Lion logo.
Rookie Award Winners
Missouri State’s Zaxton King scored 40 points in two Bear contests. This week’s ‘Freshman of the Week’ has been a bright spot for Cuonzo Martin’s team. Newcomers Dez White and Vincent Brady have each claimed one ‘Newcomer’ award.
Lindenwood continues to have a stranglehold on the ‘Freshman of the Week’ award. Rookies Jadis Jones (five) and Clayton Jackson (2) have claimed seven of the previous eight weekly awards. This week it is Aly Tounkara’s turn. The 7-foot rookie averaged eight points, 6.5 points and 2.5 blocks during LU’s 2-0 week. They were Tounkara’s first two starts of the season.
Do Good
Editor: Cover photo of Trey Campbell, courtesy of unipanthers.com.