GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- Junior Quinton Hooker has earned a national and conference accolade following his spectacular performances last week in home wins over Portland State and Sacramento State.
CollegeInsider.com officials named Hooker the Lou Henson Award National Player of the Week, while Big Sky officials named the Brookyln Park, Minn., native their Player of the Week for the second time in the last last three weeks.
"Q had a tremendous week and is deserving off all the honors and awards," UND head coach Brian Jones said. "It is nice to see all the of the hard work that he has put in start to pay off in ways like, especially since he has been playing through an injury all season.
"He obviously had some big scoring games, but he still has a pass-first mentality and when your top player possesses that mindset, it starts to rub off on your teammates. I think that is what we are starting to see more and more from this team and why we played so well at home last week."
Hooker averaged 36.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.0 steals in the two victories that moved his club into a tie for third in the Big Sky standings. He shot at an 81 percent clip from the field (26-of-32), 73 percent from 3-point territory (8-for-11) and 92 percent from the free-throw line (12-of-13). The two wins kept the Fighting Hawks in the hunt for a first-round bye at the upcoming Big Sky Conference tournament.
In Thursday's 80-77 victory over Portland State, Hooker broke UND's Division I single-game scoring record with a career-high 38 points. It was also the most points scored in a single game in the Big Sky Conference thus far this season. He made a career-best 15 field goals (15-of-20), knocked down three treys and went 5-for-5 at the charity stripe.
Hooker posted 18 points in the first period against PSU and eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for his
career. He became the 35th player in UND history to join the 1,000-point club and the 10th junior to do so.
In Saturday's 97-71 victory over Sacramento State, Hooker scored 34 points and made 11 straight field goals after missing his first shot of the game to help UND set a Division I single-game school record for field goal percentage (63 percent). He finished the game hitting 11-of-12 from the floor, including a career-high five 3-pointers (5-of-5) and 7-for-8 at the free-throw line.
Hooker currently ranks second in the Big Sky in scoring (19.9 ppg), sixth in assists (4.1 ppg) and second in steals (2.0 spg). In Big Sky games, Hooker leads the league in 3-point percentage (46.9), is third in scoring (21.3 ppg), eighth in field-goal percentage (53.3), second in steals (2.2 spg) and tied for seventh in assists (4.4 apg).
UND will look to clinch either the No. 3 or No. 4 seed in the Big Sky Conference tournament as the Fighting Hawks travel to face Montana State and Montana in the final two games of the regular season.
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