Hamilton Dominant; College Catchup

The college basketball season is well underway and a number of British ballers have been impressing. Check out how all of our Brits in NCAA Division 1 have done after a couple of weeks into the season below.

Great Britain forward Ashley Hamilton is the top performing Brit at this early point in the season after leading LMU to an upset over #20 ranked UCLA last Friday night. The 6’7″ Londoner went 8/15 from the floor to finish with 23 points in the victory, adding 3 rebounds. Hamilton followed that up with a 15 point, 6 rebound, 3 steal effort in a loss to Mid Tennessee (stats breakdown here).

Shane Walker has been the model of consistency for Loyola (MD), averaging 13 points, 7 rebounds and 1.3 blocks through three games. Loyola are 2-1, with Walker averaging 25.7 minutes per outing, despite being hampered by foul trouble. Walker was one rebound short of a double double in the season opener, registering 12 points and 9 rebounds, before following up with 15 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assists, 2 blocks and 1 steal in a win over Coppin State (full stats breakdown).

GB point guard Andrew Lawrence has been stroking it from deep, having gone 6/9 from three point range over two games for Charleston, both wins. Checkout the video highlights of the season opener against Holy Cross above, where the Londoner had 16 points (what an assist to start the season!). Lawrence followed up with 9 points and 5 assists against Morehead State (stats breakdown).

Great Britain Under-20 Alasdair Fraser had a dominant debut with Maine after killing in the pre-season. In a 113-49 rout of Maine-Machias, Fraser went for 19 points, 12 rebounds and 2 blocks on 7/8 shooting from the field and 5/5 at the line. He wasn’t quite as effective against #4 ranked Connecticut, finishing with 4 points, 5 rebounds and 4 blocks before fouling out in 32 minutes as Maine lost by 20 (individual stats breakdown here).

Fraser’s GB U20 teammate Lee Goldsbrough has seen solid minutes in two games for Providence, both wins. Starting, Goldsbrough has played 38 minutes through two games, already almost half the total he saw the whole of the last season (81). His production has been far from jaw-dropping, averaging 3 rebounds per game, remaining scoreless having only attempted one field goal, but his numbers should rise as his experience does.

Having had to sit out last year after transferring, Ben Mockford is evidently trying to make up for lost time with St Francis (NY). Through two games the 6’2″ shooting guard has jacked up 18 threes, but not converted at a great percentage, making 6. Starting both games, Mockford had 13 points in their opener playing all 40 minues, before following up with 12 against LaFayette, both games were losses (stats breakdown).

England Under-18 Grant Fiorentinos has been contributing well at Tulane, starting in the front-court despite being a freshman. In just under 25 minutes per game he is averaging 4.7 points and 4.3 rebounds per outing (individual stat breakdown here).

After having 9 points, 1 rebound and 1 assist in his season’s debut, a win over Claflin, Joe Ikhinmwin has been served a three game suspension by the NCAA after not completing the correct paperwork for the season. Ikhinmwin was one of three players from the basketball team suspended, as well as a number of others from different South Carolina State athletic programmes. Read more about that here.

Seton Hall and Aaron Geramipoor are undefeated three games into the season. The big man from Manchester is averaging three rebounds in 8 minutes per game (stats breakdown).

British teammates Daniel James and Phil Wait have had a tough start to the season after Monmouth has suffered three blowout losses. The 7’0″ Phil Wait is averaging 25 minutes per game, having his best game in the season’s opener against Villanova, where he registered 10 points on 5/5 shooting before fouling out in just 17 minutes (stats breakdown). Sophomore Daniel James registered 9 then 7 minutes before a DNP (stats breakdown here).

England Under-18 Simeon Esprit and Penn are 2-1, having played two overtime games already! Esprit has seen limited minutes, not playing in Penn’s debut, seeing 7 minutes and registering an assist against Temple, before playing 2 minutes in their most recent win over Rider,

Senior Danny Carter and Stony Brook are 1-2 three games into the season, but Carter has been marred in controversy after punching an opponent in the midsection in his season debut. He was immediately ejected having played just three minutes, then suspended for the Seawolves’ second game. Carter returned in Stony Brook’s loss to Sacred Heart, but played 14 statless minutes (Danny Carter’s stats for the season).

Patrick Nyeko had 4 points and 5 rebounds in Nevada’s opener, following that up with 2 points and 3 rebounds in a loss to UNLV, before going scoreless, grabbing 1 rebound and dishing an assist against Pacific as Nevada got their first win of the season (check out full stats here). English teammate Richard Bell, being the only newcomer to this year’s roster, has registered three DNP-CD’s so far (check out video with him from Nevada’s media day here).

After seeing just 3 stat-less minutes in the season opener with Oral Roberts, Mikey Manghum has seen 20+ minutes in both games since. He finished with 6 points in a one point loss to UTSA , before having 3 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals in a rout over Arkansas Pine Bluff (stats breakdown).

British teammates Ovie Soko and Alexander Scotland-Williamson have only played one game this season, a 10 point loss to Creighton. Ovie Soko had 10 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 block, playing all but one minute, whilst Scotland-Williamson registered 1 minute finishing with an empty statline.

Junior Nick Mabbutt at South Dakota is averaging 25 minutes through two games, having his best performance against Eastern Washington where he had 6 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 block in 30 minutes. However, South Dakota are still searching for a win (stats breakdown).

Great Britain Under-20 Alex Marcotullio has seen limited minutes through Northwestern’s first three games (averaging 12 minutes per game after seeing 23+ last year), perhaps rehabbing an injury that caused him to sit out Northwestern’s exhibition game in the pre-season. Marcotullio had 5 points in the season opener, following it up with 6 against LSU before going scoreless in 10 minutes against Tulsa (stats breakdown).

GB U20 Ali Mackay has only seen action in one of three games for Davidson this season after redshirting last year. In the season opener against Guilford, a 40+ point victory for Davidson, Mackay saw 5 minutes finishing with 3 rebounds an assist and a steal (stats breakdown).

Will Neighbour and UALR have played four games already, going 2-2. Neighbour had an impressive debut to NCAA Division 1 college basketball, registering 13 points and 4 rebounds as UALR lost to Tulsa. He followed that up with 7 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block and 1 steal in a win over Northwestern State, 9 points and 5 rebounds in a win over IUPUI, and then struggled with his shot against Eastern Michigan finishing with 5 points on 1/7 shooting (stats breakdown).

Teddy Okereafor has seen extremely limited playing time as a freshman with VCU. After registering a DNP in their opener, he followed that up with 3 minutes in a loss to Seton Hall and less than 1 minute in loss to Georgia Tech remaining statless.

As a freshman at Iowa, Abodunrin Gabe Olaseni has made the most of his limited minutes as the team has gone 3-0. In the opener against Chicago State despite only seeing 9 minutes, Olaseni got to the line 8 times, making 6 of them, finishing with 8 points and rebounds. After registering a DNP in the Hawkeyes’ next game, he then had 5 rebounds and 1 assist in 12 minutes against Northern Illinois (stats breakdown).

Despite rumours GB U20 Adam Thoseby had the starting spot locked up with Utah State, he has come off the bench in both Aggie games, registering 12 minutes in both. Thoseby is yet to make a field goal as USU has split the games, registering 2 points off free throws in their opening win over BYU, then grabbing two rebounds against Webster State.

It has been a tough start to the season for sophomore Tom Pereira, who is facing his first season without fellow Brit Justin Robinson. Rider have lost all four of their games and Pereira hasn’t got off the bench as he struggles to recover from a stress fracture in his left foot.

Buffalo have gone 2-0 so far this season, but England Under-18 Raphell Thomas-Edwards has registered two DNP’s.

Sam Fernley has seen no action in three games for Fairleigh Dickinson as they have gone 1-2.

Any surprises? Do you know of any Brits doing well in other divisions? Drop a comment!