Players of the Week

(St. Louis, MO) – It is Christmas week and our three Valley conferences are giving the gift of ‘player of the week’ honors to three first time recipients. One of them doubled his pleasure by also winning the ‘newcomer of the week’ too!

UT Martin’s Deville Smith made some history with his Ohio Valley Conference ‘POW’ & ‘NOW’ double. The senior transfer from UNLV won the dual awards because of a very rare feat. Smith became the first player since the 1999-00 season to record at least 25 points, five assists, five rebounds, five blocks and three steals in a single game. The 6’0 guard turned the trick in an overtime win against Illinois-Chicago.

Smith was named co-player of the week. Sharing the award was Eastern Kentucky’s Corey Walden. The senior guard scored 18 points in the Colonel’s win over # 18 Miami (FL). It was the second top 25 win in EKU history.

Evansville junior Egidijus Mockevicius picked up the hardware in the Missouri Valley Conference. Mockevicius recorded double-doubles in back-to-back victorious efforts. The 6’10” center went for 16 & 10 in a win over Ohio and followed that with 25 & 12 against Alabama State.

Jordan Loyd is this week’s Great Lakes Valley Conference ‘player of the week’. Loyd helped Indianapolis stay undefeated (9-0) with a pair of victories. The UIndy junior averaged 24 points and 7.5 rebounds for the Greyhounds.

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