INDIANAPOLIS -- UIC senior guard Kelsey Barlow [Indianapolis, Ind./Cathedral (Purdue)] has been named the Horizon League Men’s Basketball Player of the Week, while Valparaiso forward Alec Peters (Washington, Ill./Washington) has been named the Freshman of the Week, for the week of Dec. 9-15. The award is the first of Barlow’s career, while Peters collects freshman honors for the third time this season.
Both teams played just one game due to finals; UIC (4-6) collected a 75-69 win at Southeast Missouri on Saturday, while Valparaiso (7-5) overcame a 10-point deficit in knock off Loyola Marymount, 80-73.
Barlow collected his first career double-double in the win, posting 21 points and 12 rebounds. Playing all 40 minutes, the senior came up two assists shy of a triple-double. In a first half in which UIC led by as many as 16 points, Barlow had 11 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.
On the year, Barlow leads the Flames in scoring, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks. The preseason second team all-league pick ranks sixth in the Horizon League with 17.0 points per game and third with 4.7 assists per game.
Peters scored 17 of his 30 points in the second half as Valparaiso erased a 10-point halftime deficit in the process. The total matched his career-high 30 points, making him the first freshman and fifth Crusader in the last 18 years to have multiple 30-point games in the same season.
Peters’ 30 points also matches his Valparaiso Division I record for a freshman. At 15.3 ppg, Peters is the lone freshman in the top 10 of the conference in scoring.
UIC will host Purdue-Calumet on Tuesday, Dec. 17, at 8 p.m. ET, before traveling to UC Riverside on Friday, Dec. 20, for a 10 p.m. ET tip-off. The Horizon League Network will carry the Flames game against Purdue-Calumet. Valparaiso will head to Orlando, Fla., for the Jackson Hewitt UCF Holiday Classic Dec. 21-22, taking on Southeastern to open the classic at 6:30 p.m. ET. The Crusaders will close the two-day event against UCF at 2:30 p.m. ET, with ESPN3 picking up coverage.
Top Performers for the Week:
- Juwan Howard, Jr., Detroit (Jr., F) - Scoring 15 of his team-high 24 points in the second half, Howard sparked Detroit’s late rally in an 82-79 loss at North Carolina State. For the game, Howard finished with 24 points and seven rebounds.
- Alec Brown, Green Bay (Sr., C) - After recording his second double-double of the season with 19 points and 10 rebounds at Eastern Michigan, Brown posted a 17-point, 8-rebound, 5-block effort at South Dakota. Brown sits six blocks from becoming the first Horizon League player with 1,500 points, 750 rebounds and 250 blocks in his career.
- Kyle Kelm, Milwaukee (Sr., F) - Kelm held his own in the post against nationally-ranked Wisconsin, leading the Panthers with 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting.
- Duke Mondy, Oakland (Sr., G) - Mondy nearly carried the Golden Grizzlies to a win over nationally-ranked Michigan State, scoring a career-high 24 points while coming away with seven of Oakland’s eight steals. The seven thefts matched his career high, set in Oakland’s previous game at Indiana.
- Keifer Sykes, Green Bay (Jr., G) - With 23 points at South Dakota, Sykes notched his seventh game this season with 20 or more points. Dating back to last season, the junior has scored 10 or more points in 20 consecutive games.
- Kendrick Perry, Youngstown State (Sr., G) - Notched a game-high 28 points in Youngstown State’s loss at Pittsburgh, going 11-of-18 from the floor. Perry has now scored at least 20 points in the last four games, making him the first Penguin to do so since the 2006-07 season.
Men’s Basketball Player of the Week: Nov. 11: Kendrick Perry, Youngstown State
Nov. 18: Steve McWhorter, Milwaukee
Keifer Sykes, Green Bay
Nov. 25: Alec Brown, Green Bay
Dec. 2: Keifer Sykes, Green Bay
Dec. 9: Keifer Sykes, Green Bay
Dec. 16: Kelsey Barlow, UIC
Men’s Basketball Freshman of the Week:Nov. 11: Alec Peters, Valparaiso
Nov. 18: Kahlil Felder, Oakland
Nov. 25: Alec Peters, Valparaiso
Dec. 2: Lexus Williams, Valparaiso
Dec. 9: Matthew Grant, Detroit
Dec. 16: Alec Peters, Valparaiso
Tags: Horizon League - Men's Basketball · UIC - Men's Basketball · Valparaiso - Men's Basketball
