D.J. Newbill earned Big Ten Player of the Week honors after leading the Penn State men’s basketball team to a pair of wins last week.
The senior guard is currently the Big Ten leader and third in the country in scoring with 25.0 points per game after producing an average of 28.5 points in leading the Nittany Lions to a home win over Akron, and a road victory at Bucknell last week.
He also tallied 5.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.5 steals per game in the two wins. Maryland’s Melo Trimble shares the honor with Newbill. Newbill and the Nittany Lions have won their last four games and are off to a 6-1 start to the season heading into the ACC-B1G Challenge game vs. Virginia Tech at 7:15 p.m. Wednesday in the Bryce Jordan Center.
Against Akron last Tuesday, Newbill totaled 29 points on 8-of-12 shooting, dished out five assists, pulled down five rebounds and registered one steal.
In the Lions’ road win at Bucknell Friday, the Philly native produced 28 points on nine field goals, while corralling six rebounds and tallying one steal against the Bison.
The effort stands as his fifth-consecutive 20-plus point game and 25th of his career. With 1,283 PSU career points, Newbill has moved up to No. 16 on the Penn State all-time scoring list, passing Dan Earl (1993-99). He needs five more points to match Calvin Booth (1995-99) for No. 15 all-time and 27 more to tie John Amaechi (1,310; 1993-95), who is 14th and holds the record for the most points by a three-year player.
Newbill’s POW award is the first for Penn State since he took home the same honor Feb. 3, 2014, after the Lions knocked off No. 24 Ohio State on the road and Purdue at home last season.
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