MAC East: Jeremy Harris (Buffalo)
MAC West: Tre’Shaun Fletcher (Toledo)
(Click Read More for details on these honorees and other nominees)
Jeremy Harris, Buffalo
Guard, Junior, Greensboro, NC (Page High School)
Junior Jeremy Harris continues to dominate in conference play and he had perhaps his best week as a Bull this past week as he averaged 20.0 points and 7.0 rebounds per game during a pair of wins as the Bulls improved to 4-0 in league play for the first time ever. Harris began the week on Tuesday night at Akron, as he tied for team high honors with 17 points in a dominating 87-65 win over the Zips. Harris was 7-of-10 from the floor, while adding two assists and three steals. On Saturday, Harris tied his career high with 23 points in the 82-66 win over Miami. He had his second career double-double, and his first against a D-I school, as Harris added 10 rebounds. He shot 9-of-13 from the floor, hitting four triples in the game. He also added two assists and a steal. Harris is averaging 15.5 points and 6.8 rebounds this season in conference play.
West Division Player of the Week
Tre'Shaun Fletcher, Toledo
Guard, Senior, Wilmar, Ark. (Univ. of Colorado)
Senior guard Tre’Shaun Fletcher helped the Rockets extend their winning streak to three games by averaging a team-high 21.5 points, 7.0 rebounds and 6.0 assists per game. Fletcher was extremely accurate from the field with a 64.0 field-goal percentage (16-of-25) as well as an impressive 58.3 shooting mark (7-of-12) behind the three-point arc. He also registered an efficient 3.0 assist/turnover ratio in helping the Rockets shot 51.9 percent (54-of-104) in its two victories over its West Division foes. Fletcher opened the week with a tremendous all-around performance as he collected 21 points, eight rebounds and eight assists and was 8-of-12 from the field in a convincing 84-61 home triumph over Western Michigan. He followed that up with a 22-point, six-rebound, four-assist effort in a double-digit road win over Central Michigan. Fletcher’s play has the Rockets tied for first place in the MAC West Division. He is the lone individual to appear in the MAC Top 10 in points, rebounds and assists with 18.2 ppg (3rd), 8.4 rpg (3rd) and 3.9 apg (T-5th).
Virshon Cotton, Akron
Guard, Freshman, Milwaukee, Wisc.
Freshman guard Virshon Cotton (Milwaukee, Wisc.) led the Zips mens basketball team through a 1-1 week en route to lifting Akron to its first Mid-American Conference win by draining a game-winning 3-pointer against Bowling Green. Cotton led Akron’s scoring effort in both games, scoring a career-high 23 points twice last week. For the week, Cotton scored 46 points on 11-of-19 (.579) shooting from the field and 6-of-11 (.545) from deep. He buried 18-of-22 (.818) free throws to go along with five rebounds, four assists, and two steals. Against Bowling Green, Cotton buried the game winner from long distance with 3.7 seconds remaining in regulation. He led Akron to an 80-78 victory with a career-high 23 points on 6-of-9 (.667) shooting from the floor which included a 5-of-7 (.714) performance from downtown. Cotton added a 6-of-7 (.857) effort from the free throw line to go along with three rebounds and three assists. The Zips opened the week with an 87-65 loss to Buffalo as Cotton posted a team-high 23 points on 5-of-10 (.500) shooting from the field. Cotton made a career-best 15 trips to the free throw line and connected with a career-high 12 bonus buckets for an 80.0 percent showing from the charity stripe. He added two steals, two rebounds, and an assists.
Trey Moses, Ball State
Center, Junior, Louisville, Ky.
Trey Moses averaged a double-double last week for Ball State with 12.5 points and 10 rebounds per game. The junior center recorded 16 points and 11 rebounds in Tuesday’s victory at Ohio. His fourth double-double in six games helped the Cardinals to their first win in Athens since 2010. Moses then went for nine points and nine boards Saturday at Western Michigan. He hit 9 of 13 field goal attempts for the week (.692). Through four MAC games, Moses is averaging a double-double at 11.0 points and 10.3 rebounds per game.
Kevin McKay, Central Michigan
Guard/Forward, Sophomore, Warren, Mich.
Sophomore guard Kevin McKay made an impact on both ends of the court as Central Michigan sixth-man super sub, averaging 14.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 4.0 steals and 1.0 assists per game last week. At Eastern Michigan, McKay provided a spark off the bench, keeping CMU in the game and finishing with 15 points, six rebounds and three steals. Against Toledo, McKay helped counter the hot-shooting Rockets, especially early in the game, with his high-energy play. He totaled 14 points, a team-high seven rebounds and a career-best five steals. McKay currently leads CMU in steals with 28 and ranks second on the team in rebounding (5.8 rpg) and fourth in scoring (9.3 ppg). His 38 offensive rebounds are a team high and his .848 free throw percentage ranks third on the MAC's top free-throw shooting squad.
James Thompson IV, Eastern Michigan
Center, Junior, Baton Rouge, La. (Parkview Baptist)
Thompson led the Eagles in two games over the week, scoring 32 points and grabbing 24 rebounds while EMU split its two matchups at home against Central Michigan (W, 79-74) and on the road at Northern Illinois (L, 66-72). Not only did the junior add two double-doubles to bring his Mid-American Conference-leading total to 12 for this season, but he did so by shooting a blistering .800 (12-of-15) percent from the floor and .889 (8-of-9) from the charity stripe. The Baton Rouge, La. native leads the conference in five categories (double-doubles, defensive rebound avg., offensive rebound avg., total rebound avg., and field goal percentage), while also being in the top six in blocks per game. He's also now just 91 rebounds away from becoming just the third player in Eastern Michigan history to score 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds in their career.
Darrian Ringo, Miami
Guard, Junior, Brownsburg, Ind. (Brownsburg)
Junior Darrian Ringo continued to run the Miami offense as it split its two games this past week. He was second on the RedHawks after 15.0 points per game and finished with 14 assists, an average of 7.0 assists per game. Ringo was 7-for-9 from the field, scoring 16 points and adding seven assists in an 80-69 win over Kent State on Tuesday. He followed that up with 14 points and seven assists at Buffalo on Saturday.
Eugene German, NIU
Guard, Sophomore, Gary, Ind. (21st Century Charter)
Sophomore Eugene German averaged 22.5 points per game for the week as the Huskies split a pair of games against Bowling Green and Eastern Michigan. In Saturday’s victory over Eastern Michigan, the Gary, Ind., native scored a game-high 26 points, including five triples, in a six-point win over the Eagles. Three of German’s five triples came in the final seven minutes as the Huskies held any comeback attempt by EMU at bay. The leading scorer in the MAC, German scored 17 of his 19 points at Bowling Green after halftime, fueling a comeback attempt that saw the Huskies get back within one after trailing by as much as 17 in the second half. German shot 48.4 percent (15-of-31) from the field for the week, including 47.1 percent (8-of-17) from three-point range and was a perfect 7-of-7 from the free-throw line.
Thomas Wilder, Western Michigan University
Guard, Senior, Montgomery, Ill. (Quakerdale Prep)
Thomas Wilder guided the Broncos to a split over the week, falling at Toledo and defeating MAC West foe Ball State at home. Wilder led the Broncos with 21.0 points and 7.5 rebounds per game in the two contests. Against Toledo, Wilder notched his fourth career double-double and first this season with a game-high 28 points and 10 rebounds. Wilder against the Rockets also amassed four assists and four steals in 36 minutes played. From the free-throw line against Toledo, Wilder went a perfect, 6-for-6. Against the Rockets, Wilder scored 18 of his 28 in the first half including the first 14 points for the Broncos. On Saturday against Ball State, Wilder neared a triple-double with 21 points, five rebounds and eight assists in a 73-58 victory over the Cardinals. Wilder was lethal once again from the free-throw line, going 8-of-9 and over the two-game stretch went 14-of-15 from the charity stripe. With the 14 points against Ball State, Wilder moved into third place on WMU's all-time scoring list with 1,744 points.