Temple Basketball’s Obi Enechionya named NCAA player of the week
Obi’s monster week earns him best-in-country honors
Temple Basketball has had an incredible week – starting last Sunday they beat Manhattan by 21 points, then went on to secure close, upset wins over back-to-back ranked teams in Florida State and West Virginia. Their collective hot streak was thanks in large part to the stellar play of Junior forward Obi Enechionyia, who last week averaged 19 points, 10 rebounds, and a staggering 5.5 blocks per game. His best performances of the season came against Temple’s toughest opponents yet, and his play earned him NCAA Player of the Week honors.
The NCAA announced their selection Monday afternoon, naming Obi the best player in all of college basketball over the course of the week. To accomplish this Enechionyia put up 16 points and six blocks against #25 Florida State, and 22 points with five 3-pointers (on 71% shooting from deep) against #19 West Virginia – both of which games Temple won by less than 5 points.
His play has been great all season, and he’s provided a steady dose of scoring, rebounding, and long-range shooting for a team that’s still coming into its own. Enechionyia’s season averages of 20.2 points, 9 rebounds, and 56% 3-point shooting combine to prove he’s a multidimensional talent and firmly establish him as the primary option on the team going forward.
Temple got off to a rocky start needing overtime to pull off a 5 point win over La Salle, and then taking back-to-back losses at home against UNH and then at Umass. Despite the tough start, Temple looks to turned things around, and Enechionyia’s play is a big reason why. Since the tough losse they’ve now won three straight, two of which were against ranked teams.
Here’s the video the NCAA put out on Monday to honor him: