INDIANAPOLIS -- Oakland junior guard Kay Felder (Detroit, Mich./Pershing) and UIC sophomore center Tai Odiase (Glenwood, Ill./ Homewood-Flossmoor) have been named Co-Horizon League Men’s Basketball Players of the Week, while UIC freshman guard Dikembe Dixson (Freeport, Ill./Mingo Central [W. Va.]) has been named the Horizon League Freshman of the Week.
Felder claimed his sixth Horizon League Player of the Week honor after breaking the Horizon League career assists record during Thursday’s game versus Milwaukee. The sixth Player of the Week nod ties Felder with Green Bay’s Keifer Sykes (2013-14 season) for the most selections in a single season.
The Bob Cousy award finalist averaged 25.0 points, 9.5 assists, 5.0 rebounds and 3.5 steals per game this week as the Golden Grizzlies went 1-1 to move to 10-4 in Horizon League play this year. He led Oakland with 22 points and had 12 assists on Thursday in a loss to Milwaukee and rebounded with 28 points and seven assists in Oakland’s 111-93 win over Green Bay on Saturday. For the week, Felder was 16-of-34 from the field and a perfect 12-of-12 from the foul line.
The junior surpassed the previous mark of 699 career assists set by Xavier’s Ralph Lee (1982-86). Felder now has 710 for his career. He is also the career record for assists in Horizon League games as 374 of his career helpers have come in League contests. With 246 assists this season and 132 in HL games, Felder is currently on pace to break the Horizon League single season assist marks in both categories. The HL single-season record is 305 set by Loyola’s Carl Golston (1984-85), while UIC’s Martell Bailey (2002-03) holds the single-season record for assists in Horizon League games only with 141.
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 14. He has been named a midseason finalist for the John Wooden award, as well as one of 10 finalists for the Bob Cousy award.
The Oakland junior now has eight career Player of the Week honors. Sykes has the most in Horizon League history with 11.
Oakland (18-9, 10-4) has won seven of its last eight games. They return to action Monday at 5 p.m. when they play at Wright State (16-11, 10-4) in a game that will be shown on ESPNU. On Friday, the Golden Grizzlies are again on ESPNU as they play at Valparaiso (21-5, 11-2) before closing the week at UIC on Sunday.
This is Odiase’s first career Horizon League Player of the Week honor. The sophomore averaged 15.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 8.0 blocks in two UIC wins last week.
Odiase opened the week with 18 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field and added seven blocks as the Flames defeated Wright State, 64-59. On Saturday, Odiase set a career-high and matched UIC’s single-game record with nine blocked shots in the Flames 79-77 win over Northern Kentucky. His final block shot of the night clinched the game for the Flames as he blocked NKU’s last shot and then corralled the rebound to keep it from going out of bounds as time expired.
Odiase leads the Horizon League and ranks seventh in the country with an average of 2.96 blocks per game. His 71 blocks rank fourth for a single-season in program history and he now has 119 career rejections which is sixth on UIC’s all-time list.
Dixson was honored with seventh Freshman of the Week honor this season after leading the Flames in scoring in their two wins last week. He registered his fifth double-double of the season with a game-high 26 points and 12 rebounds in the win over Wright State. He added four assists and two blocks in the win over the Raiders. On Saturday, he scored 17 of his 21 points in the second half as the Flames knocked off Northern Kentucky.
Dixson leads all Horizon League freshman and ranks third overall with a scoring average of 18.1 points per game. He also leads all freshman and is sixth in the HL at 7.1 rebounds per game.
Top Performers for the Week:
Mark Alstork, Wright State (So., G) - Alstork led team with 15 points at UIC on Thursday and added 12 points in the win at Valparaiso on Saturday. He averaged 13.5 points and 7.0 rebounds in the two games.
Paris Bass, Detroit (So., G) - Bass posted back-to-back double-doubles last week. He had a team-high 24 points and game-best 13 rebounds with three assists and two steals versus Green Bay and tallied a game-high 24 points with 10 rebounds, three assists and three blocks in the win over Milwaukee on Saturday.
Keith Carter, Valparaiso (Sr., G) - Carter matched season-high and led Crusaders with 16 points in win over Northern Kentucky on Thursday. He scored 10 points and handed out six assists against Wright State on Saturday.
Demonte Flannigan, Cleveland State (Jr., F) - Flannigan scored a career-high 30 points in CSU’s win at Youngstown State on Saturday. He was 10-of-13 from the field and made all nine of his free throws, including two with 4.3 seconds left to seal the win.
Cameron Morse, Youngstown State (So., G) - Morse led the Penguins with 18 points in a 64-59 loss to Cleveland State. He connected on 6-of-12 from the floor and dished out three assists. It marked his 22nd time reaching double figures and the 20th straight time he has scored at least 10 points. Morse leads the Horizon League with 24.1 points per game in League play and is second overall with 19.8 points per contest.
Matt Tiby, Milwaukee (Sr., F) - Tiby led the Panthers for the week averaging 23.0 points a game. He posted a double double of 24 points and 11 rebounds in the win at Oakland and had a team-high 22 in the loss at Detroit.
Top Freshmen for the Week:
Jordan Andrews, Youngstown State (Fr., G) - Andrews scored 13 points against Cleveland State and made three 3-pointers. He moved into second place on the YSU freshman single-season 3-pointers made list with 38. Andrews has scored in double figures 10 times this season, and has made 23 of his 38 3-pointers against Horizon League foes.
Drew McDonald, Northern Kentucky (Fr., F) - McDonald averaged 11.0 points and 8.0 rebounds in two games last week. He scored seven points and added eight rebounds versus Valparaiso and had 15 points and eight rebounds at UIC on Saturday.
Tags: Horizon League - Men's Basketball · Oakland - Men's Basketball · UIC - Men's Basketball
