Larry Austin Jr. earns MAC West Division Player of the Week
Senior guard Larry Austin Jr. makes a highly contested floater against Northern Illinois March 5 at McGuirk Arena.
For the fourth time this season, Larry Austin Jr. has won the Mid-American Conference West Division Player of the Week award.
The transfer guard from Vanderbilt became an essential piece to the Chippewas (21-10, 10-8 MAC) second-straight 20-win team. Last week, he capped off the regular season with arguably his best performances yet.
Austin averaged 19.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, 8.5 assists and three steals in a 89-86 loss versus Northern Illinois and a 82-75 win over rival Western Michigan.
Against the Huskies alone, Austin put together a double-double with 19 points and 12 boards while adding eight assists in 38 minutes. He went 7-of-9 from the free throw line and added a steal.
Then against the Broncos, Austin put his name high up in the program's record books for total steals. With five steals against WMU, the 6-foot-2, 182-pound slasher has 68 takeaways this season which is a single-season record. He broke Dave Grauzer's record from the 1978-79 season.
As for the rest of Austin's stats in the Chippewas seven-point victory in Kalamazoo, he added 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting with nine assists and five rebounds.
For the season, Austin ranks first for his team and fifth in the MAC with 17 points per game. His 68 steals (2.2 per game) and 181 assists (5.8 per game) are league-leading statistic he boasts as well.
In the MAC East Division, Buffalo's junior forward Nick Perkins was granted the weekly honor. The 6-foot-8, 250-pounder averaged 19.5 points and seven rebounds in a 82-79 win over Ohio and then a 84-73 victory over Bowling Green. The Bulls finished the season at 28-3 and 16-2 in the MAC to earn the East crown.
Austin and the Chippewas will be back to work at McGuirk Arena at 7 p.m. on March 11, but this time in a different setting.
The Chippewas earned the No. 5 seed for the MAC Tournament which is one away from earning a first round bye and a guaranteed spot in Cleveland (March 14-16). The will instead take on No. 12 Western Michigan (8-23, 2-16) in a rematch from this past week. CMU has won both meetings this season, including a 85-64 win on Feb. 2 from McGuirk Arena.
The winner of WMU-CMU will move on to play No. 4 Kent State (22-9, 11-7) on March 14 in the second round of the MAC Tournament. A start time has not yet been provided.
