FRISCO, Texas – New Orleans’ Derek St. Hilaire is the Southland Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Week, the league announced Monday. Weekly awards are presented by GEICO.
St. Hilaire averaged 28.5 points per game on 56.3 percent shooting across a pair of wins, helping the Privateers to their best start to conference play (5-0) since the 1992-93 season. He added five rebounds and 4.5 assists per contest and converted 16-of-19 (.842) attempts from the free-throw line.
Winners of eight-straight for the first time since 1996, UNO (12-8, 5-0 SLC) looks to keep the streak alive in a two-game swing through the Lone Star State. The Privateers visit Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 7:30 p.m. CT Thursday before taking on UIW at 4 p.m. Saturday. Both games will be streamed on ESPN+.
Men’s Basketball Player of the Week – Derek St. Hilaire, New Orleans – Graduate Student – Guard – Atlanta, Ga.
St. Hilaire erupted for a career-high 34 points – his second 30-point game of the season – in a 77-66 win over HBU on Thursday. He shot 10-of-15 from the field, 4-of-6 from three and 10-of-12 from the charity stripe to go with four rebounds and three assists. The Atlanta native scored or assisted on 24 of the team’s first 30 points and went into the break with 19 points and two assists.
With just three points in the opening half of Sunday’s nationally televised win over McNeese, St. Hilaire found ways to keep his team in the game with three rebounds, three assists and a steal in the opening 20 minutes. Starting with a layup to give UNO its first lead at the 12:30 mark, he scored 16 points down the stretch including a dagger of a layup to push the lead to five with 45 seconds remaining.
Ranking 15th nationally in scoring (20.7), St. Hilaire is averaging 25.1 points per game during the team’s eight-game win streak, the longest since 1996. He boasts rates of 5.0 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.5 steals per contest has sunk 82.7 percent (43-of-52) of his free-throw attempts over that span. This is St. Hilaire’s second weekly award of the season and the third of his career.
Honorable Mention: Devante Carter, Nicholls; Jalyn Hinton, Southeastern; Carvell Teasett, Northwestern State.
2021-22 Southland Men’s Basketball Players of the Week
Jan. 31 – Derek St. Hilaire, New Orleans
Jan. 24 – Darius Lee, HBU
Jan. 17 – Troy Green, New Orleans
Jan. 10 – Keon Clergeot, Southeastern
Jan. 3 – Ty Gordon, Nicholls
Dec. 27 – Ty Gordon, Nicholls
Dec. 20 – Ty Gordon, Nicholls
Dec. 13 – Ty Gordon, Nicholls
Dec. 6 – Isaac Mushila, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
Nov. 29 – Derek St. Hilaire, New Orleans
Nov. 22 – Isaac Mushila, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
Nov. 15 – Ty Gordon, Nicholls
{Courtesy: release from the Southland Conference}
