SPARTANBURG, S.C. --- For the third straight week and fourth time in the first five weeks of the season, Chattanooga Mocs men's basketball graduate big man
Jake Stephens earns the Southern Conference Player of the Week award as the league office announced the selection on Monday afternoon.
Stephens has now won the award nine times in his career following the fourth selection of 2022-23 (5 in four yers at VMI). He joins former Davidson legend and current NBA superstar Stephen Curry as the only two in SoCon history to win POTW nine or more times in a career. Curry leads the all-time tally with 16.
The Bunker Hill, W.Va., native is also the first to win the POTW award three straight times since Curry during the 2008-09 season. This week's POTW selection marks the 66
th all-time for the Chattanooga program which currently sits as third-most, trailing Furman (74) for second and former member Davidson (79) for first.
Leading Chattanooga to a 2-0 record last week, Stephens averaged 23.0 points, 11.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 3.5 blocks per game to help lift the team over Milwaukee on Tuesday and Johnson University on Saturday. He notched his fifth double-double of the season behind a 31-point, 13-rebound performance against Milwaukee.
In Saturday's win over Johnson, Stephens scored 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds in just 18 minutes of floor time, adding in three assists and four blocks. For the weekend, he totaled both seven assists and seven blocks without committing a single turnover or foul.
For the season, Stephens leads the SoCon in points per game (21.4) and rebounds per game (9.5), with his scoring average ranking ninth in NCAA DI and rebounding average sitting 25th. Stephens also ranks among the nation's best in double-doubles (5, 10
th), blocks per game (2.10, 24
th) and total points (214, 12
th).
2022-23 SoCon Men's Basketball Players of the Week
Nov. 14 Jake Stephens, Gr., C, Chattanooga
Nov. 21 Mike Bothwell, 5th, G, Furman
Nov. 28 Jake Stephens, Gr., C, Chattanooga
Dec. 5 Jake Stephens, Gr., C, Chattanooga
Dec. 12 Jake Stephens, Gr., C, Chattanooga
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