A.J. English & Brian Parker Earn Weekly Men's Basketball Awards
MAAC Sports
Player of the Week
A.J. English, Iona
Sr., G, 6-4, 190, Wilmington, DE/St. Thomas More (CT)/Appoquinimink
Senior A.J. English averaged 23.0 points, 6.0 assists and 4.3 rebounds to lead Iona to three wins over MAAC opponents at the Hynes Center. The senior guard, who returned last week after missing five games with a hand injury, was 22-of-45 from the field with seven three-pointers while shooting 18-of-20 from the charity stripe. English started the week with 21-points in a win over Niagara on Monday. He posted 24 points in each of the team’s wins over Rider and Marist recording seven and eight assists respectively. Against Marist, he posted his first 20+ point, 5+ rebound, 5+ assist game of the season after several flirtations in his first nine appearances. He is the only returning player in the NCAA to average those numbers and was one of two in 2014-15 along with former Ohio State and current Los Angeles Laker guard D’Angelo Russell. English helped Iona to improve to 6-0 in league play for the second time in history and the first time in 21 seasons.
Rookie of the Week
Brian Parker, Marist
Fr., G, 6-2, 195, Cleveland, OH/Villa Angela St. Joseph
Parker averaged 17.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game while shooting .583 from the field in Marist’s two games this past week. Against Saint Peter’s on Jan. 4, Parker finished with 14 points, eight rebounds and three assists. He led Marist in all three categories, and became the first Red Fox to lead the team in all these categories in a game this season. At Iona on Jan. 9, Parker totaled 21 points, a team-high five assists, five rebounds and one steal. He shot 9-for-11 from the field, and converted his first seven field goal attempts of the game. Parker had a positive assist-to-turnover ratio for the week (8-to-6), and averaged 34.0 minutes per game. He has topped 20 points in four games this season, and has scored in double figures in six straight games.