MSU's Richardson Earns Another Big Ten Freshman of the Week
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The No. 8 Michigan State Spartans (24-5, 15-3) have struck gold this season with freshman guard Jase Richardson. Contributing to another sensational week with a pair of Top-25 wins, Richardson earned a second-straight Big Ten Freshman of the Week award, as announced by the conference on Monday.
The freshman started the week off with a team-high 15 points and eight rebounds to help lead the Spartans to a buzzer-beater road win over then-No. 13 Maryland (22-7, 12-6). Junior guard Tre Holloman was the hero with the game-winner from half-court.
Sunday afternoon featured another stellar performance from the true freshman, pouring in 11 points with five rebounds and six assists in just 20:33 minutes of court time in a 9-point win over the then-No. 11 Wisconsin Badgers (22-7, 12-6).
Whenever the Spartans needed a big play to be made, Richardson came through with a basket or dime pass to keep the momentum on their side. He once again filled up the stat sheet to help push Michigan State's win streak to five games.
The two stellar performances from Richardson came just a week after winning the conference freshman award for the first time. He has now scored in double figures in his last seven games, two of which featured 20 or more points.
Richardson is averaging the second-most points on the team at 11 per game with 3.0 rebounds and 1.9 assists. The most impressive piece to his game has been the sharpshooting of 52% from the field, the highest of any guard in the Big Ten.
With how well Richardson has played, specifically in the second half of the year, he is being considered a top candidate to win the Big Ten Freshman of the Year Award and is also shooting up NBA Mock Draft boards.
With one week left in the regular season, who's to say Richardson can't grab a third-straight conference Freshman of the Week award? There has not been a team that has been able to stop him since he entered the starting lineup six games ago, and he is showing zero signs of slowing down.
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