Ohio State Guard Malaki Branham Earns Second Straight Big Ten Freshman Of The Week Honor
Ohio State guard Malaki Branham was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week for the second straight time on Monday afternoon, sharing the honor with Michigan State guard Max Christie.
A former four-star prospect from Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary, Branham averaged 18.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.5 blocks in the Buckeyes’ loss to Indiana on Thursday and win over Northwestern on Sunday.
Branham was also named the conference’s freshman of the week last Monday after scoring a career-high 35 points in a win at Nebraska on Jan. 2. Prior to that, his previous career-high was 11 points.
“He’s always a guy who is going to get up in the morning and get shots in, so we weren’t surprised that he was going to have a breakout game like that,” fifth-year senior guard Jamari Wheeler said on Jan. 5. “It was just a matter of time. You keep putting that hard work in, that hard work is going to pay off at the end of the day.”
Branham is first Ohio State player to win the award in back-to-back weeks since D’Angelo Russell in February 2015. He’s now averaging 10.4 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game for the Buckeyes, who are 10-3 overall and 4-1 in the Big Ten this season.
Ohio State returns to action this Thursday at Wisconsin, with tipoff set for 7 p.m. on ESPN2.
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