HBCU Basketball Players of the Week: Feb. 17-23 ...Middle East

We’ve partnered with Urban Edge Network to highlight the best players in HBCU Division I men’s and women’s basketball each week.

If you’ve followed along all season with our HBCU Player of the Week awards, then you’d know efficiency is a big factor.

Most players see a tumble in efficiency when asked to carry a high workload. But the select few who are able to be high efficiency and high-volume players? Those are the true superstars.

Our Men’s and Women’s Players of the Week scored in very different ways, but both managed preposterously efficient weeks from Feb. 17-23.

Here are Opta Analyst’s HBCU Basketball Players of the Week.

Men’s Player of the Week: Shannon Grant, Jackson State

It’s quite reasonable for a player to miss two shots in the opening 30 seconds of a game. He can get the first shot of a game, miss, grab an offensive rebound and miss again.

Shannon Grant missed two shots in a week.

Grant started with 20 points, shooting 9 of 11 from the field, in leading Jackson State to an 84-71 win over Bethune-Cookman.

Jackson State went to Grant early and often. He had six of the Tigers’ first eight points and 14 points in the first half, staking them to a 41-35 halftime lead they didn’t relinquish.

Grant somehow topped that effort in his next game, going 11 of 11 from the field and scoring a career-high 25 points in Jackson State’s 71-63 win over Alcorn State. He also had a career-high four blocks.

There isn’t anything complicated about Grant’s game. He’ll take the occasional midrange jumper, but does most of his damage inside. He has great footwork for a 6-foot-10 player, soft touch with his right hand and excellent patience when he gets the ball one-on-one in the post. He knows his spots and how to get to them. It might be a simple process, but it’s really hard to stop.

Coming into last week, Grant scored 20 or more points once in 113 career games. His play has improved steadily this season, but it was hard to foresee a week like this one coming.

Jackson State’s two victories gave it sole possession of second place in the SWAC over a small handful of teams. The Tigers have four games remaining this regular season, and three are against the bottom teams in the conference, so they have an inside track to at least holding second place.

If this past week is indicative of Grant’s play down the stretch, Jackson State will be big players when the SWAC tournament begins.

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Women’s Player of the Week: Saniyah King, Howard

Saniyah King played well for the entire week, but there were a couple key moments when she came up particularly big.

You might see Howard defeated Maryland Eastern Shore 72-59 and assume it was an easy win, but the Hawks were leading early and threatening to pull away. King refused to let the game get out of hand.

With 2:01 left in the first quarter, King hit a pair of free throws for her third and fourth points of the game, cutting Howard’s deficit from nine to seven points. Starting with those free throws, she scored or assisted on 25 of the final 30 points of the half, and Howard entered the locker room down just one point.

Maryland Eastern Shore scored 38 points in the first half and would’ve led by double figures if not for King’s heroics. The offense was completely stagnant without her creativity.

In the second half, Howard clamped down on defense and allowed just 21 points, cruising to a double-digit victory. But that may not have been possible without the offensive explosion from King in the first half. She finished the game with 24 points while shooting 8 of 14 from the field and 4 of 7 on 3-point attempts.

In Howard’s 62-53 win against Morgan State, King’s offensive dominance was more concentrated, but just as crucial.

Howard led by one at halftime, but Morgan State opened the scoring in the third quarter with a pair of free throws to take a 29-28 lead. Howard then turned it up, draining five consecutive 3s to turn a two-point deficit into a 43-29 lead. It took less than 2:30 minutes, but Howard went from trailing to a comfortable lead and Morgan State never got closer than five points.

King hit three of the five 3-pointers and finished with 25 points on 8-of-18 shooting from the field, including 5 of 7 from behind the arc.

King’s 3-point shooting was among the best in Division I this past week. Among players who attempted at least 10 3s, King’s 3-point percentage (64.3) trailed only Tarriyonna Gary of Temple (70.0) and Bella Fontleroy of Baylor (66.7).

Howard was tested in both games, but King’s scorching hot shooting helped the Bison stave off two upsets and move to 9-1 in MEAC play. Their lone conference loss is against Norfolk State, which is still undefeated in conference play.

But the Spartans have to travel to Howard to play the final game of the regular season on March 6. The Bison have to hope that King’s shooting streak can last for a couple more weeks.

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HBCU Basketball Players of the Week: Feb. 17-23 Opta Analyst.

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