Jeremy Wise named C-USA Men's Basketball Player of the Week (Jan. 29)

JEREMY WISE, Southern Miss Freshman, Guard, Jackson, Miss.

Wise scored a career-high 28 points, including 11 of the Golden Eagles first 13 points, against No. 11 Memphis on the Tigers’ home court Jan. 27. He put Southern Miss ahead twice in the final 10 minutes of the game on key buckets. The freshman also scored six of the first eight Southern Miss points during a 20-5 second-half run to pull away from East Carolina on Jan. 24. Wise has scored in double digits in 17 of 19 games, with six 20-plus performances. For the week, he averaged 21.5 points, hitting 13-of-17 free throws, and 5.5 assists per game. He is currently No. 8 on the Southern Miss Top 10 freshman scoring chart and needs just 93 points to be the all-time freshman leading scorer at the school. This is his first Player of the Week honor and the first for a Golden Eagle this season. Wise is also the first freshman in conference history to win the award since former Louisville standout and 2003 C-USA Freshman of the Year Francisco Garcia received the weekly honor on February 10, 2003.

Durant wins Seventh (thus far) Big 12 Weekly Honor

Freshman Kevin Durant (Texas) and junior Stefhon Hannah (Missouri) have been chosen as Phillips 66 Big 12 Men's Basketball Player and Rookie of the Week, respectively, for games of Jan. 22-28 in voting by a panel of media covering the conference. Durant captures his seventh Big 12 weekly honor (player or rookie) of the season. Hannah earns rookie accolades for the third time.

Jan. 29 weekly honors

2006-07 Big 12 Men’s Basketball Weekly Awards

Player
Nov. 13 -- A.J. Abrams, Texas, G, So.
Nov. 20 -- Aleks Maric, Nebraska, C, Jr.
Nov. 27 -- Julian Wright, Kansas, F, So.
Dec. 4 ---- JamesOn Curry, Oklahoma State, G, Jr.
Dec. 11 -- Mario Boggan, Oklahoma State, F, Sr.
Dec. 18 -- Wesley Johnson, Iowa State, F, Fr.
Dec. 26 -- Mario Boggan, Oklahoma State, F, Sr.
Jan. 2 ---- Longar Longar, Oklahoma, C, Jr. and Josh Carter, Texas A&M, F, So. (tie)
Jan. 8 -- Kevin Durant, Texas, F/G, Fr.
Jan. 15 -- Kevin Durant, Texas, F/G, Fr.
Jan. 22 -- Mario Boggan, Oklahoma State, F, Sr.
Jan. 29 -- Kevin Durant, Texas, F/G, Fr.

Rookie
Nov. 13 -- Kevin Durant, Texas, F/G, Fr.
Nov. 20 -- Kevin Durant, Texas, F/G, Fr.
Nov. 27 -- Mike Taylor, Iowa State, G, Jr. and Stefhon Hannah, Missouri, G, Jr. (tie)
Dec. 4 ---- Stefhon Hannah, Missouri, G, Jr.
Dec. 11 -- D.J. Augustin, Texas, G, Fr.
Dec. 18 -- Tweety Carter, Baylor, G, Fr.
Dec. 26 -- Kevin Durant, Texas, F/G, Fr.
Jan. 2 ---- Kevin Durant, Texas, F/G, Fr.
Jan. 8 --- Wesley Johnson, Iowa State, F, Fr.
Jan. 15 -- Mike Taylor, Iowa State, G, Jr.
Jan. 22 -- D.J. Augustin, Texas, G, Fr.
Jan. 29 -- Stefhon Hannah, Missouri, G, Jr.

Curious about JVG's Words

After last night's overtime 121 to 113 loss to the Denver Nuggets, Rockets head coach Jeff Van Gundy told the media he hasn't liked his team's play the last four games.

That surprises me.

After Wednesday's home loss to the Phoenix Suns (without Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming), JVG told the media he was pleased with his team's effort.

What gives?

In my opinion, the Rockets defense has taken at least two steps back the last week to 10 days as teams are taking advantage of Houston's poor efforts defending the pick-and-roll. Players aren't rotating quickly enough which is either allowing lay-ups or dunks or wide open three-point shots. Plus, I believe the team fell in love with the free-wheeling offense they were playing over the last few games and got lax on defense.

Considering all of the injuries the Rockets have suffered thus far this season, a 25-16 record at this point of the season is more than respectable. It's pretty darn good.

NBA Suspends KG one Game

Minnesota forward Kevin Garnett has been suspended for one game for throwing a punch at the Detroit Pistons' Antonio McDyess.

The incident occurred with 5:18 remaining in the fourth period of the Timberwolves 104-98 double overtime loss to the Pistons on Friday at the Target Center. Garnett will serve the suspension Sunday when the Timberwolves take on the Phoenix Suns at US Airways Center.

Warriors' Baron Davis Supsended One Game

Golden State guard Baron Davis has been suspended for one game without pay for swinging at the L.A. Clippers Quinton Ross, it was announced today by Stu Jackson, NBA Executive Vice President, Basketball Operations.

The incident occurred with 1:47 remaining in the fourth period of the Warriors 115-109 loss to the Clippers on Wednesday at the Staples Center.

Davis will serve the suspension tonight when the Warriors take on the Cleveland Cavaliers at the Arena in Oakland.

Rockets Invite You to Community Step Show

The Houston Rockets, in conjunction with the Boy Scouts of America, present the inaugural "The Hardwood" Community Step Show 2007, Monday, January 29, as the Rockets take on the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Step Show ticket includes entry to the Rockets - Sixers game. Seating is Limited.

For more information, contact Stephanie Stoglin at 713.758.72714 or stephanies@rocketball.com.

Or contact George Pope of the Boy Scouts of America: 713.659.8111.

McGrady will play against the Nuggets Saturday

Tracy McGrady practiced today. He'll play tomorrow.

However, he did hint that he may have to miss a game here and there the rest of the regular season.

He said, without a doubt, things could be done which would not cause him to miss a playoff game.

Mutombo moves past Kareem

On his fourth of a season-high five blocks tonight, Dikembe Mutombo (3,191) moved past Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (3,189) into second on the NBA's all-time blocked shots list. Hakeem Olajuwon (3,830) stands as the league's all-time leader.

"Going behind Hakeem Olajuwon is one of the things that inspires all of us as young Africans who came to America to follow the dream of playing basketball. He opened the door to show that you could come into game and dominate. And that's the reason why I'm going out today and buying champagne and toasting it to Hakeem Olajuwon for leading an example for me and inspiring me. He was a great role model for me."

Mutombo also matched the Rockets, as well as his season high of 19 rebounds tonight. He now has double-digit rebounding totals in each of his last eight games (12/27/06-1/10/07), which includes setting his original season high with 19 boards vs. Utah (1/5/07).

The last time Mutombo had eight straight games of 10 or more rebounds was back in 2000-01 with the Atlanta Hawks (9 games: 12/15/00-1/2/01). The last Rockets player with a stretch of eight or more consecutive double-digit rebounding performances was Charles Barkley with a 10-game streak (4/15/99-5/2/99).

Tigers' Moore named SWAC Player of the Week

Texas Southern Senior Forward Chris Moore was honored this week by the Southwestern Athletic Conference as Player of the Week.

Over three games, Moore averaged 15.3 points, 10.3 rebound and 1.67 assists. His 14 points and 13 rebounds against Prairie View was Moore’s 5th double-double of the season.

For the season, Moore averages 12.1 points a game (8th in SWAC) and 8.1 rebounds a game (1st in SWAC). The Tigers are in first place with a record of 3-0 in conference (7-7 overall) this season.

This is Texas Southern’s best start since 2001 when they also started SWAC play 3-0. TSU is on a four game winning streak, and will host Jackson State on Saturday, January 13th at 7:30pm.

HBU's Jones II named NAIA National Player of the Week

Houston Baptist University's Dwight Jones II was named the NAIA National Player of the Week, earning the first honor of the season for his efforts over the Christmas holidays.

Jones, a senior guard from Houston, helped HBU to a win over St. Ambrose University on December 30 in Sharp Gym by pouring in 30 points on 10-18 shooting from the floor and 10-13 from the line. He also added four boards, three assists and a steal as the Huskies won handily, 93-65.

A second-team NAIA All-America last season, Jones leads the Huskies in scoring at 20.7 points per night, and is also chipping in 3.9 rebounds while shooting 52.7 percent from the floor. He is second in the conference and eighth in the nation in scoring.

It is the first national weekly honor for Jones, who was also tabbed as the Red River Athletic Conference Player of the Week for the first time this year. He was the RRAC Player of the Year last season.

Houston’s Lanny Smith Will Sit Out the Rest of the 2006-07 Season

University of Houston head men’s basketball coach Tom Penders announced Wednesday night that senior guard Lanny Smith will miss the rest of the 2006-07 season.

Smith, who tried to come back from preseason surgery on his left big toe, has averaged 7.8 points, 3.0 assists and 2.3 rebounds in four games this season. He did not play in Houston’s game at Kentucky earlier tonight.

“Lanny came up to me just before the game and told me he had decided to shut it down the rest of the year,” Penders said. “He is a preseason (Conference USA) selection and made a valiant attempt to try and play this year. He has not been able to practice the past couple of days because of the pain, even though we were just shooting most of the time.”

Smith came to his decision after debating back and forth whether he should play this year.

“My doctor told me when he evaluated it at the beginning of the season that he didn’t think I could play this year,” Smith said. “I guess I was hard-headed and thought if I could work hard enough then I could play.

“Oliver (Lafayette), Jahmar (Thorpe) and I are seniors and we worked really hard last summer. We wanted to go out with a great year this season. It has been really hard to sit and watch my guys play, especially in a game like tonight when it was really close and I thought I could help them. But, after the past couple of days, I feel that it is best for me and best for the team that I try to fully recover and come back strong next year.”

I'm so glad finally made the decision to sit out the rest of the season. He wavered almost daily with it. I know he grew tired of everybody giving him advice. Heck, I told him (more than once) to sit out the season. Good for him to look out for himself.

Plus, Lanny's decision should help the rest of the team focus on the task of salvaging this season which has been disappointing for almost everyone associated with the UH basketball team.