Brits in College: Week 8 Recap

By Rowan Shiell
College basketball is back in full force, now that the  holidays are over, and our player of the week was impressive so we will get right down to business.

Player of the Week

Andrew Lawrence | College of Charleston | Senior | Guard | @andrewcofc04.

Andrew Lawrence was named the Southern Conference player of the week, for men’s basketball, after leading his team to a 4-0 record over the latter part of December. He averaged 16.8 points, 2.5 steals and 4.5 assists to earn the honor.

On Saturday he scored 21 points, grabbed five rebounds and dished out five assists as CofC (9-4) defeated Vermont (7-5) by twelve points.

Then, on Monday, Lawrence tied his season high in points (22) to go with four assists and five rebounds as they beat Marist (4-9).

He made an impressive 60% of his shots in both games.

Best of the Rest

Ashley Hamilton | Loyola Marymount | Senior | Forward | @thekingash

On Saturday, Ashley Hamilton scored 14 points, grabbed four rebounds and dished out three assists to help his team defeat Cal State Bakersfield (5-10), to wrap up their non-conference schedule.

It’s baptism by fire for the Lions as their first three conference games are against the top tier teams of the West Coast Conference . They play BYU (11-4) then St Mary’s (11-3) and Santa Clara (12-3).

Last season, an injured Hamilton missed the conference opener against BYU, which was a blowout loss. Four games later he would score nine points in a blowout win.

In Thursday’s game, against BYU, he scored 14 points in the first half but only two in the second, as LMU continued the trend of win big or loose badly in a lopsided loss to BYU (lost by 41) to start conference play at 0-1.

Fahro Alihodzic | University Alabama at Birmingham | Junior | Center

UAB (8-6) won both their games against Northeastern (5-7) and Georgia Southern (6-8), respectively. Alihodzic scored six points in the first game and a dozen in the second.

UAB starts conference play next Wednesday against UCF (9-4).

Alasdair Fraser | Maine | Junior | Forward | @bigali15

Maine started the season 0-4 but a current three game winning streak has given them a more manageable record of 6-8. They wrapped up their non-conference schedule, on Saturday, with a win over Quinnipiac (4-7). Fraser scored 14 points and had 11 rebounds.

On Wednesday Maine was victorious in their first conference game, against Boston University (6-8). Fraser was the leading scorer with 17 points, three blocks, three steals and six rebounds.

Ben Mockford | St Francis (NY) | Junior | Guard | @BenMockford

St Francis needed a layup in the last five seconds to defeat NJIT (6-7) by two points, on Sunday. This means they have now won two games in a row giving them a little momentum going into conference play. Mockford scored 15 points.

They opened conference play against Quinnipiac (4-8), on Thursday, which was a three point win for the Terriers. Mockford contributed five points in thirty minutes of play.

Will Neighbour | Arkansas Little Rock | Junior | Forward

Neighbour had his third double double of the season, on Saturday, scoring 17 points and grabbing a career high of 14 rebounds but it wasn’t enough as UALR (8-7, 2-2 Sun Belt) lost their third game in a row to LA-Lafayette (6-9, 2-2 Sun Belt).

Keith Rendleman | North Carolina-Wilmington | Senior | Forward

It was a mixed bag of goods for Rendleman over the week. His team didn’t win but he had a Rodman-like 31 rebounds in two games.

On Saturday he scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in a loss to Campbell (4-9). Wednesday saw UNCW (5-8, 0-1 CAA) drop their first conference game to Towson (6-8, 1-0 CAA). Rendleman had 14 points, 21 rebounds, three blocks and three steals.

That was his sixth double double of the season.

Extras

• Aaron Geramipoor is still out with a stress fracture and is not expected back until mid January but it seems his coach is missing him as they start Big East play.

“When we brought Aaron or Kevin [Johnson] in, they did a great job of being a presence,” Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard said. “Most people say they don’t score, they don’t do this, they turn it over, they miss free throws, (but) that’s not their job. Their job is to go in there and be a physical presence and it really wore other teams down.”

This is a different tune from a few weeks back when he said that Geramipoor may lose his spot. Those comments must have been borne of frustration.

• Charleston Southern (5-6) went 4-1 during December. They feature Allie Fullah, from Hackney, who averages 3.8 points and 3.4 rebounds in 17 minutes a game.

• Florida State (8-5) was picked to compete in the ACC this season, if not win it, but they are struggling mightily at the moment. They dropped a game to Auburn, on Wednesday night, and one of their weaknesses seems to be rebounding. This may be an opportunity for Robert Gilchrist, a 6’9” junior from London, to earn increased playing time. The fact that he had zero rebounds in nine minutes of action (against Auburn) doesn’t help this argument but as the old saying goes ‘you can’t teach size.’

• Lee Goldsborough has played a total of seven minutes in Providence’s last three games, all losses. The coach seems to be relying heavily on his starters as they all average 35 plus minutes. Providence started the season 7-2, with an injury depleted roster, and as the players came back we speculated that Goldsborough’s minutes may fall but not to this level.

All the best for the New Year and many thanks for your continued interest.