MVC/OVC Weekly Honors – Week Ten

Improving Teams = Honored Players

(St. Louis, MO) – During this highly competitive season in the Missouri Valley and Ohio Valley Conferences, there are several teams that are improving on past performances. With those improvements, their key players start getting noticed. This edition of MVC/OVC Weekly Honors we see that happening.

Ohio Valley Conference

Southeast Missouri (9-10, 4-2) is building momentum and has won three straight games. For a team that finished four games under .500 and one under in league play last season, this is a team headed in the right direction. Leading the charge is this week’s ‘Player of the Week’ Phillip Russell.

The St. Louis native (Vashon High School) tied the SEMO Division 1 single-game scoring record of 37 points Saturday. Earlier in the week he dropped 16 points on Lindenwood. The 5’10 sophomore guard is the OVC’s second leading scorer (17.5 ppg) and leads the conference in assists (4.5).

He is the tenth different OVC player to earn the league’s top weekly honor.

Eastern Illinois won five games last season with three of them occurring during league play. The Panthers have already won seven games this season and have matched their OVC win total with twelve games to go.

Kinyon Hodges posted offensive performances of 19 and 23 points last week and his overall game is helping change the trajectory for Marty Simmons’ Panthers. Hodges joins teammate Yaakema Rose as a recipient of the ‘Newcomer of the Week’ award. Rose has won it twice.

Hodges is twelfth in the league in both scoring (13.4 ppg) and assists (2.8). He is also thirteenth in steals.

Tennessee Tech won eleven games last season and finished three games under .500 in OVC play. The Golden Eagles (8-11, 4-2) have won four straight games and are tied with SEMO for second place in the new look OVC. Jerome Beya jumped into the starting lineup Saturday and scored six points while grabbing four rebounds.

This week’s ‘Freshman of the Week’ joins teammate Grant Strong in claiming this weekly honor. Strong has earned it twice.

Missouri Valley Conference

Drake’s Tucker DeVries becomes the first player from either league to claim a second ‘Player of the Week’ award. The preseason ‘Player of the Year’ scored 15 points during Drake’s overtime win at UIC (seven in the extra session) and then exploded for 28 points in a victory over Bradley. DeVries is the Valley’s second leading scorer (18.2 ppg). UNI’s Bowen Born leads with a 19.2 scoring average.

Belmont guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie becomes the second straight Bruin freshman to earn the MVC’s ‘Newcomer of the Week’ award. Gillespie scored 15 and 14 points during Belmont’s (13-6, 6-2) pair of victories. The Greenville, Tennessee native handed out ten assists during those two contests and his 3.16 assists per game average is the best of any Valley rookie. Cade Tyson earned the notariety last week

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