UM'S Will Cherry named Lou Henson National Player of the Week
Feb. 14, 2012
BOSTON (MASS.) -- The University of Montana's Will Cherry was chosen as the recipient of the Lou Henson Award given to the National Player of the Week by collegeinsider.com, the organization announced recently.
The 6-foot-1 junior guard from Oakland, Calif., helped Montana win three games last week. On Monday's 68-44 home win over Idaho State he had 21 points, 3 rebounds and 3 steals. On Thursday in a 75-68 win at Northern Colorado he scored a career-high 30 points to go along with 8 steals, 4 assists and 4 rebounds. He finished the week on Saturday at Sacramento State by scoring all 17 points in the second half as the Grizzlies rallied to a 67-58 win.
For the week he averaged 22.7 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3 assists and 4.3 steals per game, shooting 57.9 percent from the field, 50 percent from 3-point range, and 81.8 percent from the free-throw line.
The Lou Henson Award is presented annually to the top Mid-Major player in Division I college basketball (in which the Grizzlies received 27 votes, which ranks them 30th).
The award is named in honor of Lou Henson who retired after a spectacular coaching career that lasted 41 years. When he left the game in 2005 he was sixth all-time in career Division I wins with 779. He is the winningest coach at both Illinois and New Mexico State. He is one of only 12 coaches in the history of the game to take two schools to the Final Four.
Yesterday Cherry was named the Big Sky Conference Player of the Week for the second time this season and the fourth in his career.
Cherry was also mentioned on ESPN's Weekly Watch "who wowed us list" for his 30-point effort at NC.
WEEKLY LOU HANSEN AWARD WINNERS
Week 14 (Feb. 13) Will Cherry, Montana
Week 13 (Feb. 6) Damian Lillard, Weber State
Week 12 (Jan. 30) J.P. Primm, UNC-Asheville
Week 11 (Jan. 23) Anthony Ireland, Loyola Marymount
Week 10 (Jan. 16) George Beamon, Manhattan and LaMarcus Reed, UT-Arlington
Week 9 (Jan. 9) Dominique Morrison, Oral Roberts
Week 8 (Jan. 2) Kyle Weems, Missouri State
Week 7 (Dec. 26) Alex Young, IUPUI
Week 6 (Dec. 19) Reggie Hamilton, Oakland
Week 5 (Dec. 12) Trey Harmon, Cleveland State
Week 4 (Dec. 5) Joe Ragland, Wichita State
Week 3 (Nov. 28) Doug McDermott, Creighton and Evan Roquemore, Santa Clara
Week 2 (Nov. 21) Caspar Ware, Long Beach State
Week 1 (Nov. 14) D'Aundray Brown, Cleveland State
