NCAA Basketball: Ja Morant and Belmont top mid-major performers of the week

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SAN DIEGO, CA – MARCH 16: Ja Morant #12 of the Murray State Racers handles the ball in the first half against the West Virginia Mountaineers during the first round of the 2018 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Viejas Arena on March 16, 2018 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Donald Miralle/Getty Images) /

Another week of college hoops action has passed and it’s time to take a look at the best NCAA Basketball mid-major performances of the week.

Best Performance, Individual – Ja Morant, Murray State

There was no one individual performance that stood out over the week, so I’m taking this opportunity to finally talk about Murray State’s Ja Morant.

Morant, one of the best point guards in the nation, turned in what was a normal week for him. The sophomore had 23-5-13-3 on 8-12 shooting in an 80-52 Racers blowout of Southern Illinois and 10-5-14-2 in a 74-57 Murray State win over Jackson State.

It wasn’t his most impressive performance of the year. That would be the 38-9-5 he put up in Murray State’s near-upset of Alabama, a game in which Morant mostly did what he wanted whenever he wanted to.

But, his performance this week exemplified the consistent greatness he has produced in his still short time with the Racers.

I would really love to see what Morant would do with the national spotlight on him in the NCAA Tournament. This year might be his last chance. He’s currently a projected lottery pick by NBA draft experts.

Honorable mention goes to Mike Daum‘s 37 and 17 (!) with three assists and two blocks in South Dakota State’s 139-72 (!!) evisceration of Savannah State, Jarrell Brantley’s 26-17-3-4 in Charleston’s 83-79 win at VCU, Hartford’s George Blagojevic 30 and 15 in a win over Bryant, a 29-8-6-4 line from FIU’s Brian Beard Jr in a win over North Florida, and 32-11-5-1-1 from Terry Taylor to lead Austin Peay over Purdue Fort Wayne.

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