Another exciting week in college basketball is under our belt. For the third straight week we have a different top performer. To be fair last week’s player of the week, Ovie Soko, had the week off as Duquesne had no games scheduled.
This week’s player of the week has had a strong start to the season and it was a matter of when rather than if he would ever take the top weekly spot.
Some players chose this week to give a hint of what they are capable of. The big question now is can they build on this going forward or are they just a one game wonder?
Read on to see who were the top British players in the NCAA division one basketball since last Friday.
Will Neighbour | UALR | Senior | Forward
Neighbour (pictured, above) scored 23 points and grabbed a career best-matching 14 rebounds against Southern on Friday. He was aggressive inside snagging seven offensive rebounds and made seven of his nine free throw attempts in the overtime victory (end of the game/OT video below). It was Neighbour’s eighth career double-double and was his third straight 20-point performance.
Tuesday saw UALR take down Southern Arkansas as Neighbour recorded 17 points to go with four rebounds, two assists and six steals.
Fahro Alihodzic | University of Alabama at Birmingham | Senior | Forward
Fahro had a solid game last Friday in a win over Nebraska. He scored 16 points to go with half a dozen rebounds with three dimes and a block.
Two days later, foul trouble would limit him to six points and four rebounds in a loss to Temple. The 6’10” big man played only 21 minutes and had four fouls.
Wednesday saw UAB dismantle Florida A&M. Alihodzic had a poor shooting night, making only two of eight shots, to finish with six points. He was aggressive on the boards snagging seven in 23 minutes though.
Chris Caird |Drake | Junior | Forward
It took him four games to show Drake fans that he was a contender. In the previous three games he showed promise on the boards but his scoring was under par considering his JUCO exploits.
Then in their only game of the week against Omaha-Nebraska, the 6’6” wing went off for a dozen points to go with five assists and five rebounds. This isn’t player of the week worthy but it showed he is getting acclimated to division one basketball in the win.
Allie Fullah | Charleston Southern | Senior | Forward/Centre
Fullah registered a season high 11 points to go with four rebounds in a win over Trinity on Tuesday. He also had a block and an assist in 13 minutes of action.
Robert Gilchrist | Florida State University | Senior | Forward
Gilchrist scored 12 points and grabbed five rebounds as Florida State defeated Northwestern by two points on Sunday. Two days earlier the forward logged 11 minutes in a loss to Michigan.
Luke Nelson | UC Irvine | Freshman| Guard
UC Irvine played on three consecutive nights last weekend. On Friday, they got a 20 point win over LIU Brooklyn, followed by a loss to Boston University on Saturday, but they rebounded to beat Eastern Washington the next day.
On Friday night, Nelson finished with 10 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal on 4/7 shooting (couple of highlights below).
Call it “shooter’s memory” but his performance the previous day was forgotten as the freshman caught fire against Eastern Washington, hitting five of his seven three point attempts, to finish with 19 points and two assists.
Alex Young | UC Irvine | Guard | Sophomore
Alex Young scored seven points and dished out seven assists in the loss against Boston University.
Then he followed that up with 16 points and three assists in the win over Eastern Washington.
It is clear that UC Irvine’s season will be directly affected by the performances of these two dynamic guards.
Gabriel Olaseni | Iowa | Forward | Junior
Olaseni logged only 16 minutes in Iowa’s victory over Pennsylvania on Friday. The 6’10” centre scored eight points, grabbed six rebounds and blocked three shots.
Then in a marquee matchup against Xavier, last night, the centre recorded his first double double of the season in the overtime victory to keep Iowa undefeated. He finished with 10 points, 11 rebounds and 4 blocked shots in 29 minutes.
Iowa was down by as much as 15 points in the second half. Olaseni made two crucial free throws with Iowa down by four with two minutes to go. After a team mate tied the game they would head to overtime where No.23 ranked Iowa would pull out the victory to remain undefeated in six games.
Michael Ochereobia | Western Illinois | Centre| Senior
Mike Ochereobia didn’t miss a shot in four attempts but it wasn’t enough as Western Illinois went down to South Eastern Louisiana. The centre also had six rebounds, to go nine points, in 20 minutes of action.
Will Saunders | Western Illinois| Senior | Centre
Saunders scored eight points and grabbed eight rebounds in a victory over Trinity on Tuesday. The forward made good use of the seventeen minutes of playing time he had off the bench.
Prince Ibeh | Texas | Sophomore | Centre
If Texas can take any solace in their four point loss to BYU, on Monday, it would be Prince Ibeh’s 12 points in 11 minutes. The sophomore also had six rebounds, two blocks and two steals.
Texas would win against DePaul the next night but the Ibeh only had six minutes playing time, scoring four points and grabbing half as many rebounds.
Thoughts? Anyone we missed?
Image Credit: UALR
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