Mount Whitmore

Player of the Week:

Cam Whitmore (Villanova)

The five-star freshman is fully healthy ready to cause some problems in the Big East. Villanova is 3-0 since his debut against Oklahoma and he has led the Wildcats in scoring the last two games. He has yet to start a game, but he has been extremely efficient off the bench. Against Penn he scored 21 points and in the recent win over Boston College he made three triples. Three games in he’s already averaging 15.7 points and 5.3 rebounds a game. The Big East better watch out because Villanova is heating up and once Justin Moore is back the Wildcats will be dialed.

Who’s Hot:

The former top 50 recruit has been a valuable piece off the bench for Dan Hurley this season. There’s a reason why the Huskies are ranked No. 3 in the nation. When Adama Sanogo got into foul trouble last year, they didn’t have a solid option off the bench they could rely on. Now they have 7’2 Clingan who has proven to be a prime backup behind Sanogo. While he doesn’t play much, he does what he needs to when he comes in. Against LIU in the most recent victory, he scored career high 21 points and brought in career high 11 rebounds in just 15 minutes of basketball. He also did this while shooting a perfect 10/10 from the field.

Kam Jones (Marquette)

The lefty sharpshooter has been playing the best basketball of his career in the last four games. First in the blowout victory against Baylor he scored career high 20 points shooting 57% from deep. He clearly wasn’t satisfied as he went on to score another career high 26 points against Wisconsin. Even though they lost in overtime, Jones had a big time shot late in the overtime period to tie it up. He most recently is coming off a 25-point performance on the road at Notre Dame resulting in a 21.8 scoring average in the last four games. Last year he averaged 7.4 as a freshman.

Who’s Not:

Creighton

After starting the season 6-0, the blue jays have suffered four straight losses and most recently had back-to-back losses to unranked Nebraska and BYU. There was a lot of hype coming into the season with all the returning experience and they were sitting pretty at 5-1 after the Maui invitational. In their last 3 losses, they are shooting a combined 25% from the three-point line. Their starting lineup has a lot of talent, but it is the bench where they lack. Ryan Kalkbrenner was out due to illness against BYU forcing freshman Fredrick King to step up in his absence. Before this he averaged just 8 minutes a game. Unfortunately for Creighton their schedule does not get any easier as they will play Arizona State in their last nonconference game and will head into the Big East gauntlet at Marquette on Dec. 16.

Georgetown

Fortunately for the Hoyas and Patrick Ewing they sit at 5-6 overall which means they are just one win shy of matching last year’s win total. The big test now is whether they can perform better in conference play. They finished their nonconference schedule 1-3 in the last four games with the sole win being over Sienna. Most recently they lost by 19 points to Syracuse who has also had an up and down season. The zone defense halted their offense holding them to shoot 37% from the field and 24% from the three. There is some promise for the Hoyas entering Big East play featuring consistent scoring from Duquesne transfer Prime Spears.

Top Five Seniors

#5 Umoja Gibson (DePaul)

Making our top transfers blog last week, Gibson continues to impress. While 16.4 points per game is the best of his career, it’s not the most impressive stat he has to his name. He leads the Big East with 2.5 steals a game. That’s ahead of Posh Alexander who led the Big East last year for Saint John’s. Gibson also sits at second in the Big East averaging 6 assists a game. Just like every other player on this list, he does everything you would expect a 6th year player to do.

#4 Javan Johnson (DePaul)

Alongside teammate Gibson, has been involved with college basketball for now his 6th year previously playing at Iowa State and Troy. Last year for DePaul, Johnson played in only 10 games dealing with an injury. He leads the Blue Demons in scoring with 18.1 points a game. His talent will help DePaul be competitive in Big East play this season. The one two punch of Johnson and Gibson will be a hard force to stop.

2nd in points per game

#3 Jack Nunge (Xavier)

Being the leading scorer for Xavier last year, Nunge was set to have one final go around. He’s averaging 15 points a game and is displaying his offseason work shooting 39% from three. Allowing yourself as a true center to stretch the floor gives his teammates opportunities to get easy drives to the basket. He also is a defensive anchor having several games with multiple blocks. He’s coming off two big time games against West Virginia and Cincinnati with a double-double against the Mountaineers.

#2 Caleb Daniels (Villanova)

Even though Villanova hasn’t been having their traditional success, Daniels has made major strides since last season. He leads the team in scoring at 16.8 points per game, which is significantly better than last year when he was more of a bench role player. He also has more assists in 10 games this year they he did last season. All around Daniels is an example of a veteran guard who hustles and earns every basket he gets.

#1 Souley Boum (Xavier)

Boum was easily one of the most underrated transfers. There was high anticipation from returning players in Jack Nunge, Colby Jones and Zach Freemantle, but now after seeing the team play several times, Boum is a major factor in their success. He leads the Musketeers in scoring averaging 17 points per game and is shooting 51% from deep. In only one game this season he has scored single digits and has five 20+ point performances.