T.J. Price, Justin Johnson bring home Player of the Week honors
The Hilltoppers shocked the world (okay, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration) by coming back and defeating the Ole Miss Rebels on Saturday prevening (my fellow Big Bang Theory fans will get this reference) with a huge second half. And, even though it was the only game the Tops played all week (it was finals week for WKU), there were a couple of performances on the court that warranted conference-wide recognition.
T.J. Price and Justin Johnson were honored by Conference USA yesterday, with Price being named co-Player of the Week (along with Louisiana Tech’s Alex Hamilton) and Johnson taking home the co-Freshmen of the Week honor (joining Edward Simpson Jr. of Middle Tennessee). The honors were the first for both Hilltoppers.
T.J. Price lead the way against Ole Miss once again (after doing so last year), as he registered a season high 26 points to accompany 10 rebounds. The impressive thing about that 26 points is all but five of them were scored in the back 20 minutes of play, apart of a 49-29 half that kept the Rebs’ at bay. Price was also clutch from the free throw line, going 8-for-8 on the day and hitting four in the final three minutes to secure the win. It was the third double-double of T.J.’s career and first of his senior campaign.
Justin Johnson brought home his first conference honor of his career, and while his numbers weren’t as eyepoping as T.J’s were, he still was a large contributor, especially off the glass, where he had eight rebounds to go along with seven points and hit four of his five free throw opportunities. Johnson also took care of the ball when he had possession, not turning it over in his near 25 minutes on the floor. While, again his numbers weren’t outrageous, he looks confident on the floor game in and game out, and I’m going to attribute this honor due to his whole season up to this point as opposed to just one game. Regardless, well deserved Justin.
Congrats to both the guys for helping bring the Tops to victory over the Fighting Bjork’s, and keep it up! WKU is back in action Wednesday against Chicago St., and of course you can find all the coverage you need right here at Wave the Red Towel.