Chicken!

Player of the Week

Danrad Knowles, Houston

The good news: “Chicken” Knowles had a career-high 31 points on 11/15 shooting (73%) against Tulane, followed by 15 against Cincinnati. The bad news for Knowles: Houston lost two more this week to extend the streak to 7 and one of the things that led to Houston’s losses was the fact that the Knowles only pulled down 6 total rebounds in the two games. The long, fluid forward obviously needs to add weight. He’s listed at 6’10 and 190 lbs, but he appears to have added a few pounds and is likely a shade over over 200.

He’s scored in double figures in four straight,  knocking down 2 three pointers on average in those games. He’s also upped his season average to 11 points per game. He’s certainly an intriguing sophomore prospect going forward. His 31 point game notches him player of the week honors and a worthwhile spotlight for the ascending sophomore talent. Now Houston just needs to start winning some games.

Who’s Hot

Shaquille Harrison, Tulsa

Since the start of December, Harrison has been one of the top scorers in the conference, coming out of nowhere to share the scoring burden with preseason all-conference selection James Woodard. He’s constantly made the “Who’s Hot” section, and received strong consideration for POW. It was another pair of easy wins for Tulsa, beating South Florida on the road and Memphis at home by a total of 35 points.  Harrison had a solid performance against South Florida, with 14 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals, then followed that up with a career game, recording his first double-double with 18 points and 10 boards, along with 6 assists and 4 steals.  He really stuffed the stat sheet, and his team ran away with it against a pretty talented Memphis team that was expected, prior to the season, to be one of the conference’s best.  Harrison’s shooting (11/28; 39%) wasn’t stellar, but he led this team to two more victories to continue to keep Tulsa’s first AAC loss at bay.

Nic Moore, SMU

The Tulsa Golden Hurricanes may be at the top of the conference with an undefeated conference record, but one slip-up and the SMU Mustangs will be all over them.  SMU has won 5 straight, including two easy ones against ECU and Tulane.  The 23-point victory over ECU at home wasn’t surprising, but the 14-point road win over Tulane, who’s looked surprisingly good so far in conference play, was a little more unexpected.  SMU, led by junior point guard Nic Moore, is really hitting its stride, despite off-the-court turmoil that has resulted in the season-long suspension of Keith Frazier.  This week, Moore scored 32 points and recorded 13 assists in his two games, putting up averages of 16 PPG and 6.5 APG, which both eclipsed his season averages.  After a non-conference season of no bad losses and no good wins, SMU is finally playing at their peak, with Moore, Markus Kennedy, and Yanick Moreira leading the way.  It may only be a matter of time before they take the conference lead.

Louis Dabney, Tulane

The junior guard, Louis Dabney, continues to get buckets.  He poured in another 34 points in two games this week, giving him an average of 21.3 PPG in his last four games.  He’s been a big part of his team’s modest success in conference play thus far, and has made multiple 3’s in 7 of his last 8.  It appears that he’s stepping into the role of The Guy, which all good AAC teams (2014 Louisville/Russ Smith, 2014 UConn/Shabazz Napier, 2014 Cincinnati/Sean Kilpatrick, 2015 UConn/Ryan Boatright) generally seem to have.

Who’s Not

Jherrod Stiggers, Houston

From time to time this season, Jherrod Stiggers has shot the ball well and put up lots of points.  On a more regular basis, Stiggers has not shot the ball as well, but has still put up a lot of points.  But this week, Stiggers shot incredibly poorly and it was reflected in both his shooting numbers and his points total.  Against Tulane, he shot 2/13 (15%) and o/8 from 3 for 6 points.  But rather than bottoming out there, he hit a new low and shot 1/8 (13%) for 3 points against Cincinnati.  The Cougars are now on a 7-game losing streak, and Stiggers has shot 5/36 (14%) in his last three games, including 1/20 (5%) from 3.  It’s been 6 games since Stiggers shot over 40% from the field, and 8 since his shot over 50%.  Both player and team are in a funk, and it will take the turnaround of one to bring about the turnaround of the other.  Such is the existence of a team that relies on a streaky volume shooter.

Ryan Boatright, UConn

Even The Man has his off days.  The consensus best player in the conference ever since his preseason CPOY acknowledgement, Boatright still leads the conference in scoring.  But his last two games have been two of his lowest scoring outputs of the season.  Last week, he scored only 8 on 3/10 shooting as the Huskies blew a chance to end Tulsa’s winning streak, then, in UConn’s lone game this week, he scored 9 on 3/12 shooting in a tough non-conference loss to Stanford in a game that could have some serious bubble implications.  That’s 7.5 PPG in his last 2 for Boatright, off of 6/22 shooting (27%).  UConn is now on its second multi-game losing streak of the year, but both Boatright and the team should be able to turn it around this week with a pair of home games against Central Florida and South Florida.

Top 5 Microwave Guys

In basketball, a player, such as the original “Microwave”, Vinnie Johnson of the Celtics, is known for his ability to heat up and provide instant offense (“heat up”?  “instant offense”?  “microwave”?  Get it?  Eh?).  They won’t lead their team in scoring every game.  They may not even lead their team in scoring every four games.  You aren’t going to see Ryan Boatright on this list.  Microwave guys aren’t always “on”.  But you never know when they’re going to heat up and drop 25 on you and carry their team to a surprise victory.

1.)    Jay Hook, Tulane

Hook generally plays a supporting role to Louis Dabney and Jonathan Stark, but he’s the team’s (and maybe the conference’s) best shooter, and that alone makes him a threat to get hot.  He hit 5 3’s and scored 18 against Mississippi State, and hit a career-high 7 3’s against UCF last week to score 25 points.  Sometimes he’ll have be having an off night and will have to defer to Dabney and Stark, but lately, he’s been mostly successful when he’s stepped on the court.

2.)    Avery Woodson, Memphis

Woodson, in his first year at Memphis after transferring from JUCO, has been the best outside shooter for the Tigers, which has led him to some big performances here and there.  He lit up Houston for 23 points, including 6 3’s, and went 4/4 from downtown against Indiana State.  Woodson is one of the AAC’s better shooters.

3.)    Brandon Goodwin, UCF

Goodwin’s role has increased to more of a lead guy role in recent weeks, so he barely qualifies for this list, but he’s still just a 10 PPG scorer.  The best example of his microwave-ability is his 30-point explosion against Houston in which he hit 4 3’s.  He’s a slasher that can be a good complement to freshmen gunners BJ Taylor and Adonys Henriquez.

4.)    Farad Cobb, Cincinnati

At times, Cobb has looked like the most dangerous perimeter scorer for Cincinnati by far.  He’s only scored in double figures three times this season, but those include a 24-point outburst against Chattanooga in which he shot 6/9 from 3, and an 18-point outing in a big win over SMU, in which he hit 4 3’s.  He gets to the basket with ease, and can hit the three regularly, as well.  But, as with a lot of guys with the “instant offense” label, consistency has kept him from getting more regular minutes.

5.) Daiquan Walker, UCF

With Walker teaming up with Goodwin, Adonys Henriquez, and BJ Taylor, you never know who’s gonna carry the scoring load for the Knights.  Walker is a 7 PPG scorer who only attempts 6 shots a game, but he’s a 42% 3-point shooter and can really get cooking when he’s on the floor.  He hit 3 3’s apiece against Davidson and Temple, and had his best game of the year when he shot 8/11 against Memphis.  His scoring output has risen a little, with over 10 PPG in his last 6.