For the second time in the first three weeks of the season, Chattanooga Mocs men's basketball graduate big man Jake Stephens has been named the Southern Conference Player of the Week, the league office announced Monday afternoon.
Stephens, who averaged 22.5 points, 10.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.5 steals last week, has now won the award seven times in his career with five honors coming during his tenure at league foe VMI. He was named POTW once in 2020-21, four times in 2021-22 and now twice in the current 2022-23 season.
How does seven career POTW selections stand in league history? Stephens becomes just the seventh student-athlete in SoCon history to win the award seven or more times and the first since Fletch Magee (Wofford), who won it seven times over the span of 2015-19.
Stephen Curry (Davidson) is the all-time leader with 16 POTW laurels.
In Saturday's 69-66 win over Murray State, Stephens posted 27 points (20 in the first half) and grabbed 11 rebounds while adding in three assists and three steals during the victory. He ended the game shooting 52.9% (9-of-17) from the floor including a 57.1% (4-of-7) mark from behind the arc.
In Wednesday's narrow loss to Lipscomb, Stephens finished the contest with 18 points and 10 rebounds, in addition to a trio of assists. He shot 5-of-8 (62.5%) from the field including a perfect 2-of-2 (100.0%) performance from three and a 6-of-6 effort from the charity stripe.
For the season, Stephens ranks second in the SoCon in points per game (19.2) and is tied for the lead in rebounds per game (9.0). He sits 11th in all of NCAA DI in defensive rebounds per game (7.83) and is tied for 12th in total double-doubles (3).
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Chattanooga (3-3) heads to Tennessee Tech (3-4) for a non-conference matchup in Cookeville on Wednesday night. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. ET. Game coverage links will be made available ahead of tip-off on the schedule page.