The NC-Double-Eh Player of the Week - Week 8

This week we honor a player who may have been forgotten in the shuffle of new faces at Iowa State but reminded everyone of the player he was. Congrats to Melvin Ejim for being our latest NC-Double-Eh honoree ...

Player of the Week

Melvin Ejim - Sophomore, Iowa State

Melvin Ejim has been having what you could call a transition year with all the new faces on his Iowa State team. A starter last season, he's now coming off the bench and last week he had would you could call his breakout game for this season and his performance earned him our nod for NC-Double-Eh Player of the Week.

In the Iowa State's narrow 67-65 win over Mississippi Valley State on New Year's Eve, Ejim had his best game of the season thus far going for a season high 15 points while grabbing a career high 15 rebounds, 3 of them being offensive, in a season best 31 minutes of action. He shot 5-of-8 from the floor including a perfect 3-of-3 from behind the arc and making 2 of his 4 free throws. Ejim also dropped 3 assists just for good measure.

For the year, he's averaging 7.2 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.1 assists while shooting .471 from the floor and .750 from the line in 21.8 minutes. He's currently second on the Cyclones in rebounding and is currently tied for 8^th in the Big 12 Conference in that category.

Honorable Mention: Nik Cochran, Davidson - 17 pts, 3 rebs, 3 asts, 1 stl, 3-of-9 FGs, 11-of-11 FTs, 33 mins Dec. 29 vs. Penn.

Rookie of the Week

Kevin Pangos - Freshman, Maine

Well, what more can we say about Kevin Pangos. He's been playing like a vet since day one and he's actually been on a roll in the December. Last week in two games, he averaged 12 points, 4 rebounds and an assist in 25 minutes. He shot 8-of-15 from the floor, including 5-of-7 from the trey, and made 3 0f his 4 foul shots on his way to helping Gonzaga get two victories. His great performances have earned him the NC-Double-Eh Rookie of the Week.

On Dec. 28, Pangos had another great shooting game finishing with 19 points in the mighty 90-51 win over West Coast Conference rival Portland. He would only play 21 minutes in the victory but he shot a scorching 6-of-8 from the floor including 5-of-7 from the three line and he made both his free throw attempts. He would also contribute 2 assists, a rebound and a steal in the game.

Three days later at home, Pangos helped the Zags to a tight 72-65 win over Xavier to extend their current winning streak to six games. In this game, he played 29 minutes and finished with only 5 points but he did add 7 rebounds in the contest to help seal the game.

For the season, Pangos is averaging 14.8 points, 2.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.1 steals in 30.7 minutes. He's shooting .446 from the floor, an impressive .410 from beyond the arc and .883 from the line. Pangos is Gonzaga's team leader in points, assists and free throw percentage and is second in steals. His totals place him among the West Coast Conference leaders in points (4^th), assists (6^th), free throw percentage (tied for 4^th), 3PT shooting (7^th), made three per game (tied for 2^nd with 2.6), assist-to-turnover ratio (4^th with 2.0) and minutes played (10^th).

Honorable Mention: Dylan Ennis, Rice - 7.5 ppg, 3 rpg, 3.5 apg, 1 spg, 4-of-10 FGs, 1-of-3 3PT FGs, 6-of-7 FTs, 30 mpg in two games Dec. 28 and 31.