Brits in College: Week 2 Recap

By Rowan Shiell on November 22, 2013

The season is very young but some players have stood head and shoulders above the pack and showing that they will be a force to reckon with once they get their feet firmly set under them.

As always these updates will be for games played from Friday to Thursday.

Player of the Week

Ovie Soko | Duquesne | Forward | Senior
Ovie Soko has taken college basketball by a storm after a redshirt year. He is currently averaging a double double through four games.

On Sunday he tallied 19 points to go with a dozen rebounds in a loss to West Virginia.

Then on Wednesday he dropped 23 points and 13 rebounds in a victory over Albany. He also dished out five assists, blocked a couple of shots and stole the ball twice.

Best of the rest

Will Neighbour | UALR | Senior | Forward

Will Neighbour had a great first half against Florida on Saturday but in the second period Florida took the legs out of Arkansas Little-Rock’s attack with an intensive full court press. Neighbour, who did not start, had 21 points and eight rebounds.

The forward had the same stat line in a two point loss to Middle Tennessee on Monday.

UALR may be 0-3 but Neighbour had a good week averaging 21 points and eight rebounds. Let’s hope the senior’s coach doesn’t feel the need to bench him to get better results again.

Shore Adenekan | Seattle university | Junior | Forward

Shore Adenekan, a transfer from Lamar Community college, had his best game for Seattle on Saturday. The 6’9” forward scored 10 points and grabbed five rebounds in a blowout victory over Evergreen on Saturday.

However he did not fare better in the follow up game on Tuesday at Boise State where he only saw seven minutes of action.

Jack Crook | Seattle university | Sophomore| Centre

On the other hand Adenekan’s team mate Jack Crook had a better week after his opening two games. The 6’11” centre from Manchester had 7 points and a career high 14 rebounds against Evergreen, then followed that up with 10 points and 10 rebounds in the loss to Boise State.

Luke Nelson | UC Irvine | Freshman | Guard

Luke Nelson had his best game of the young season with a 12 point, 8 assist, 2 rebound and 3 steal effort on 5/8 shooting in just 21 minutes against Pacifica College. The Anteaters cruised to a 110-73 rout, improving to 2-2 on the season.

Fahro Alihodzic | University of Alabama at Birmingham | Senior | Forward

Fahro Alihozic only had one game over the week which was a double overtime loss to No.19 ranked New Mexico. The 6’10” big man was eventually disqualified due to foul trouble but managed to score eight points and secure eight rebounds in the tightly contested game.

At least UAB has shown that they can hang with a ranked team and can use this as a learning game.

Jesse Chuku | Lehigh | Sophmore | Forward

Lehigh lost all three of their games giving them a record of 1-4. Chuku had 18 points in their only victory over Rider.

Aside from securing a dozen rebounds in an eight point loss to Fordham, the 6’8” forward’s stats have taken a dive. He scored only a total of 12 points, in the three losses, to go with four blocks and 15 rebounds.

Gabe Olaseni | Iowa | Forward | Junior

Iowa is currently undefeated through four games. They played one game over the week which was a victory over Abilane Christian. Olasini scored a respectable 10 points to go with 3 rebounds and a block in 16 minutes of action.

Will Saunders | Charleston Southern | Junior | Forward

After a great start to the season, in his first three games, Saunders had a lacklustre outing against New Mexico scoring 3 points in 11 minutes of play. The forward was limited by foul trouble as he was one shy of fouling out.

However his great play continued with a 16 point burst against No.20 ranked Baylor on Wednesday. Charleston Southern lost by a mere five points.

Saunders should be one to watch over the season as he was phenomenal down the stretch of the hotly contested game. He made two free throws and a three pointer to bring Charleston within three points in the last minute of the game.

Ben Mockford | St Francis (NY) | Senior | Guard

St Francis added two losses to their record over the week. Mockford scored only five points against Albany but was sensational, dropping two timely three pointers down the stretch, as St Francis gave No.9 ranked Syracuse a scare. The 6’2″ guard finished with nine points in the nationally televised game which finished with a score of 56-50.

Thoughts? Anyone we missed?

Image Credit: Duquesne Dukes

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