Brits in College – Week 8 Recap

By Bradley Gains on January 9, 2015

With the eighth week of the college basketball season completed, we take a look at all the top performing Brits in NCAA Division 1 in the past seven days.

Player of the Week

Gabe Olaseni claims his second Player of the Week award after scoring a new career-high in points, and then equalling that mark the game after, having enjoyed success from drawing fouls inside.

The senior centre scored a career-high 18 points in a 70-59 victory for Iowa, after making 12/13 from the free throw line, along with 5 rebounds.

“We made a concerted effort to go inside, try to get to the free throw line. Gabe is playing with such confidence offensviely, with his free throws,” said Iowa Head Coach Fran McCaffery. “It’s great to see. You can see he’s playing with great confidence.”

Olaseni then tied his high with another 18-point display, but Iowa fell to a 75-61 defeat to Michigan State, earning praise from the opposition coach.

“Olaseni was really good, he dominated us down there (in the first half),” said MSU head coach Tom Izzo. “The second half, we did a little better on him, but that kid played like a man.”

Best of the Rest

Alex Young scored a career-high 24 points on 4-7 shooting from beyond the arc, but UC Irvine suffered an 88-82 home loss to Long Beach State in their opening Big West Conference game. The Anteaters also lost 70-67 to New Mexico State with Young producing an all-round display with 9 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists. Team-mate Luke Nelson missed both games through injury.

Former Manchester Magic centre Jack Crook was another Brit to set a new career-high after scoring 19 points in a defeat for Seattle. Shore Adenekan added 6 points and 5 boards in the loss to Cal State Fullerton.

Forward Will Saunders tied his career-high with 18 points from the bench – on 6-13 3-point shooting – in a 74-71 victory for Charleston Southern, in the middle of scoring 13 and 14 in losses against High Point and Coastal Caro.

Chris Caird scored 4-6 from downtown on his way to 15 points as Drake were beaten 81-45 by Illinois State. Jesse Chuku had 5 points and 4 rebounds in a defeat for Lehigh, as they split their two games this week.

Guard Teddy Okereafor finished with 5 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists as Rider University enjoyed a 62-46 win. Jamie Batish scored a season-high 15 points, all from the 3-point line, as Western Illinois defeated Omaha 80-78, before scoring 7 in a heavy 75-44 loss.

Freshman Kingsley Okoroh started for Cal Bears in a defeat against USC, and finished with 4 points and 6 rebounds in 22 minutes of action.

Image credit: Iowa Hawkeyes

Anyone we missed that deserves a mention? Let us know in the comments!

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