Two former Wolverines now playing Division I college basketball, Zena Edosomwan ‘13 and Derick Newton ‘14, have won conference player of the week awards.
Edosomwan, a junior center at Harvard, won Ivy League Player of the Week for the week of Monday Dec. 21 for his record-setting performance at the 2015 Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.
Edosomwan led the Crimson to the championship game of the eight-team invitational, averaging 20.3 points and 13.0 rebounds per game. The big man set a pair of tournament records in the seventh iteration of the Diamond Head Classic–most rebounds in a single game, with 17 in the team’s 85-82 overtime win over BYU, and most total rebounds in one tournament, with 39 of them.
“I knew how important it was for our team to compete at a high level on Hawaii, so I had to step up,” Edosomwan said. “Our team looks to play through me and I don’t want to let them down.”
After the victory over BYU, the Crimson advanced to the semifinal, in which they dispatched Auburn 69-51 to move on to the championship game, where they faced Oklahoma, who was ranked third in the country by the AP at the time. Edosomwan rose to the occasion, scoring a career high 25 points and grabbing 16 boards.
“I have a lot of confidence in my game because I put in a lot of work on my game,” Edosomwan said. “I enjoy big games and big moment [sic] as well as the not-as-hyped-up games. I love competition.
As of press time, Edosomwan is averaging a double double, leading Harvard in points per game (13.7) and rebounds per game (10.5).
Newton, a freshman forward at Stetson University, was crowned Atlantic Sun Men’s Basketball Co-Newcomer of the Week for the week of Nov. 23, sharing the award with Deion Holmes of South Carolina Upstate.
Newton led the Hatters to their first two victories of the season, putting up 20 points and 10 rebounds against Division II Fort Valley State, and tallying 22 points and 11 rebounds against Bethune-Cookman.
“It meant a lot,” Newton said. “It meant that all the hard work that I did in the preseason was paying off. But at the end of the day I still felt like I had something to prove and I still do.”
For Newton, the wins affirmed the idea that despite starting the season with three straight losses, the Hatters still had what it took to win.
“With the first two wins, they felt great because I was sick of losing and it showed me and my team that we could be really good if we do everything right,” Newton said.
As of press time, Newton is the team’s leading scorer with 15.1 points per game.
