NCAA Basketball: ETSU, AJ Green top mid-major performers of the week
By Logan Butts
Best Performance, Individual – AJ Green, Northern Iowa
Speaking of mid-major squads that are rolling, let’s take a look at Northern Iowa and their star scorer AJ Green. The Panthers guard consistently fills it up for Northern Iowa, having scored in double-digits in all but two games this season. But he has really heated up as of late, having scored 20 or more eight times in the last nine games as UNI has won 10 of its last 11.
This past week, Green dropped 29 points in an 88-78 win vs Valpo. He shot 9-16 from the field, including a killer 5-10 from the three-point line, and hit all six of his free throws. He also added three rebounds, three assists, and a steal. In an 86-71 win at Bradley for UNI, Green scored 25 points, again a team-best, on 7-15 shooting and another perfect free throw mark (8-8). He also grabbed five boards.
Green, who is just a sophomore, has stepped up his game across the board for the Panthers this season. With UNI in contention for an at-large bid and sitting pretty atop the Missouri Valley Standings, Green is the front-runner for the MVC Player of the Year award.
As for UNI, they are currently 38th in the NET rankings, but they have a bad loss (at Illinois State) and only one Q1 win (at Colorado). They do have two Q2 wins (at Bradley and neutral site over South Carolina), but the Panthers should just win the conference tournament to be safe.