Brandon Averette named Big 12 Newcomer of the Week
Oklahoma State Cowboys true freshman point guard Brandon Averette is the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week after scoring 17 points in a victory over Tulsa.
Oklahoma State’s true freshman point guard Brandon Averette is the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week, according to Mark Cooper of the Tulsa World. Last week sophomore point guard Jawun Evans was named Big 12 Player of the Week.
Last week, Jawun Evans named Big 12 Player of the Week. This week, his backup, Brandon Averette takes Big 12 Newcomer nod. #okstate
— John Helsley (@jjhelsley) December 12, 2016
Averette took over for Evans because of a shoulder injury. He led the Pokes to a 71-67 victory over the Tulsa Golden Hurricane. A 17 point effort against Tulsa is a career-high for Averette. In three of the last four games, he has scored at least 12 points. Moreover, Averette got three rebounds, three steals, and three assists against Tulsa.
In addition to Evans missing the Tulsa game, senior shooting guard Phil Forte played lighter minutes because of injury. As a result, Averette played 37 minutes, the most minutes played by any player on either team. In that time Averette showed relentless effort on offense and defense. He looked like the best defensive player on the floor for the Pokes.
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Averette had the ball in his hands for close to the entire game. The Pokes tried to use Forte as a facilitator for a bit of time in the first quarter, but not much seemed to be clicking. Forte turned the ball over once, did not have any assists, and could not create many shots for himself since he shot 1-7 from the field.
Head coach Brad Underwood should be confident with the depth at his disposal. Once Evans returns, Averette along with forward Jeffrey Carroll, who is averaging 15.7 points per game, will likely return to the bench. Furthermore, the OK State rotation has looked stronger as the season has progressed. Freshman guard Thomas Dziagwa scored a career-high 11 points off the bench to help the Cowboys beat Tulsa. He played 19 minutes, also a career-high.
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The progression the Cowboys are seeing from Averette is huge. He continues to improve his shot creating and driving abilities. However, improvement still needs to be seen in his free throw shooting and turnovers. He shot 50 percent from the free throw line and had five turnovers against Tulsa.