NCAA Men: Naar and Moneke named conference Players of the Week

Two Aussie standouts secured conference player of the week honours, with Saint Mary’s point guard Emmett Naar and UC Davis forward Chima Moneke picking up awards.

Naar led Saint Mary’s to a 3-0 week, in that time averaging 14.3 points and 8.3 boards per game and securing the WCC Player of the Week award. Naar’s best line came against Gabe Hadley’s New Mexico State, when he put up 22 points and 5 assists on an efficient 63% shooting. A pre-season pick for the All-WCC team, Naar has more than lived up to the expectations. Perhaps most impressive is that Naar has only given up 5 turnovers while registering 38 assists in four games. Tanner Krebs also had a career high 14 points in a win over San Jose State.

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Chima Moneke has continued his hot start to the season, being named Big West Player of the Week. The dynamic forward averaged a monster 24 points and 10 rebounds through the first week of UC Davis’ season.

Jo Lual-Acuil was named tournament MVP of the CBE Hall of Fame Classic, topping off a great tournament with a 15 point, 15 rebound game in the championship game against Creighton. The big man produced throughout the week for the Bears, averaging 16.6 points and 12.3 rebounds in that three game span.

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Duop Reath has continued to put up numbers for LSU. The Tigers lost to the #13 Notre Dame at Maui Invitational in Hawaii in the Semi-Finals, Reath had a big game putting up 17 points, 6 boards, including 3 blocks and 1 steal. #2 pre-season Australian freshman Mayan Kiir saw his first minutes for LSU in the blowout loss to Notre Dame. On Thursday he saw the floor again against Marquette, where he scored his first bucket.

Deng Adel has continued his hot start to the season for Louisville. The 2018 NBA draft hopeful is averaging 19 points per game over the first three games of the season. The Melbourne native had himself a game against Omaha, scoring 21 on 88% shooting, including 8 rebounds and 4 assists.

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Kyle Zunic was named Big South Freshman of the week for Winthrop. The NSW native put up 14 points, 3 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game over two games during the week. The last Winthrop player to earn freshman of the week honours was none other than Xavier Cooks. Cooks also had a productive week for the Eagles with two impressive performances. The Aussie led Winthrop with 22 points in a huge 55 point win over Mars Hill while he also had 14 points in a win over Central Penn.

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Eastern Washington head coach Shantay Legans praised junior Jesse Hunt after his 6 point, 6 rebound performance. Hunt has been an integral part of the Eagles’ rotation so far this season, rebounding strongly while averaging over 8 points per contest.

“We have guys 6’6’, 6’7’ who are active. Jessue Hunt is one of the best offensive rebounders in the Big Sky, and we’re looking forward to that” beamed Legans.

Earlier in the week Eastern Washington secured a famous win over Isaac White’s Stanford. It was the first time in school history that the Eagles had played Stanford and they managed to come away with a 6 point win on their home floor.

Isaac White has continued to star as a freshman for Stanford. Shooting 46% from beyond the arc for the Cardinals. The South Australian had a remarkable performance against the #9 ranked North Carolina, putting up 20 points. White is averaging 12.8 points for the season so far and is exceeding his already high pre-season expectations.

Florida freshman Gorjak Gak had a career high 12 points against North Florida on a perfect 4-4 shooting, including 4-4 from the line. Gak is enjoying an increased role off the bench this season, averaging 11.3 minutes per contest.

Kouat Noi continued to produce for TCU, scoring a career high 14 points against South Dakota. The #1 ranked Australian freshman has lived up to expectations so far this season, averaging 10.8 points and 5.3 boards per game.