INDIANAPOLIS -- Oakland junior guard Kay Felder (Detroit, Mich./Pershing) has been named the Horizon League Men’s Basketball Player of the Week, while UIC freshman guard Michael Kolawole (Rowlett, Texas/Rowlett) has been named the Horizon League Freshman of the Week.
Felder claimed his fifth Horizon League Player of the Week honor after posting three double-double performances last week for the Golden Grizzlies.
He opened the week with 24 points and 10 assists as Oakland revenged an earlier loss to Northern Kentucky with an 85-74 win at NKU. Three days later, Felder helped the Golden Grizzlies again defeat a team that had previously beat them as Oakland won at Youngstown State, 107-85. Felder led six players in double figures with 17 points and added a game-high 14 assists. He wrapped up the week with 13 points and 11 assists as the Golden Grizzlies got past Cleveland State, 67-57.
Felder continues to lead the nation in assists per game (9.1) and ranks fourth in scoring (24.7). Only one player listed as a guard (Stetson’s Brian Pegg) has more double-doubles on the season than Felder’s 13. He has been named a midseason finalist for the John Wooden award, as well as one of 10 finalists for the Bob Cousy award.
Felder’s Player of the Week nod is his fifth this season. The record for Player of the Week selections in a single season is six set by Green Bay’s Keifer Sykes in the 2013-14 season. The Oakland junior now has seven career Player of the Week honors. Sykes has the most in Horizon League history with 11.
Oakland (17-8, 9-3) has won six straight games and returns home this week to host Milwaukee (15-9, 6-5) on Thursday and Green Bay (14-10, 6-5) on Saturday.
Kolawole collected his first Freshman of the Week nod after scoring a career-high 16 points versus Valparaiso on Saturday. The freshman guard connected on 5-of-11 shots from the field and 5-of-6 from the foul line and added three rebounds in the game. The Rowlett, Texas native only scored 25 points during the non-conference portion of UIC’s schedule and played over 20 minutes in a game twice, but has seen his role increase as of late as he has now posted five double-digit scoring efforts during HL play and has played 30 or more minutes in UIC’s last four games.
UIC closes its five-game homestand this week as it faces Wright State (15-10, 9-3) on Thursday and Northern Kentucky (9-14, 5-7) on Saturday.
Top Performers for the Week:
Paris Bass, Detroit (So., G) - Bass pulled down a career-high 17 rebounds and had three blocks and seven points in the win at Cleveland State on Thursday. He led Detroit with 20 points - 18 in the second half - and added four rebounds in the win at Youngstown State on Saturday.
Jalen Billups, Northern Kentucky (Sr., F) - Billups led NKU with averages of 14.7 points and 8.0 rebounds per game last week. He had 20 points and six rebounds in NKU’s comeback win over Milwaukee on Saturday. He also notched his third double-double of the season with 18 points and 12 rebounds versus Oakland.
Dikembe Dixson, UIC (Fr., F) - Dixson scored a game-high 18 points and led the Flames with seven rebounds versus Valparaiso on Saturday. He added two steals, while playing a game-high 39 minutes.
Vashil Fernandez, Valparaiso (Sr., C) - Fernandez set Valpo’s career blocks record with his second block of the game at UIC. He now has 233 career blocks. He finished the win at UIC with eight points, nine rebounds and six blocks.
Demonte Flannigan, Cleveland State (Jr., F) - Flannigan averaged 22.0 points, 11.0 rebounds and 2.5 blocks in CSU’s two games last week. He had a career-high 25 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks versus Detroit on Thursday. He had 19 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks on Saturday against Oakland.
Jordan Johnson, Milwaukee (Jr., G) - Johnson paced Milwaukee for the week, putting up back-to-back points/assists double-doubles against Wright State and Northern Kentucky on the road. He went for 16 points and 10 assists against the Raiders and 13/10 against the Norse.
Cameron Morse, Youngstown State (So., G) - Morse twice led the Penguins in scoring last week with 23 points against Oakland and 30 points against Detroit. Morse shot 52.8 percent (19-for-36) from the field, 60 percent (6-for-10) from 3-point range and 75 percent (9-for-12) from the free-throw line. Against Oakland, Morse connected on 9-of-20 from the field and made a pair of 3-pointers on the way to 23 points. Against Detroit, Morse made 10-of-16 field-goal attempts, tied a career high with four 3-pointers and went 6-of-8 from the free-throw line. It marked his second 30-point performance of the year. Morse leads the Horizon League in scoring with 24.6 points per game against league foes, and ranks second overall with 19.9 points per game. Morse has scored at least 20 points 12 times this year and nine of those have come against Horizon League opponents.
JT Yoho, Wright State (Sr., F) - Yoho scored 29 points in WSU’s win over Milwaukee on Thursday. He finished the week averaging 17.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists in two Raider wins.
Top Freshmen for the Week:
Mark Hughes, Wright State (Fr., G) - Hughes was 6-of-9 from the field last week, including 3-of-5 from three-point range in two Raider wins last week. He scored 10 points in WSU’s 79-60 win over Green Bay.
Drew McDonald, Northern Kentucky (Fr., F) - McDonald averaged 14.3 points and 7 rebounds per game last week. He tallied a career-high 23 points and eight rebounds against Oakland on Monday. He helped NKU erase an 11-point second half deficit to defeat Milwaukee with eight points and eight rebounds.
Josh McFolley, Detroit (Fr., G) - McFolley tallied 16 points and dished out a team-high five assists with three steals in the win at Youngstown State on Saturday.
