HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – Drew McDonald, Northern Kentucky's senior standout on the hardwood, was named the Nike Horizon League Player of the Week for the second-straight week and the fourth time in the season's first eight weeks.
The native of Cold Spring, Kentucky, registered a pair of double-doubles in wins over IUPUI and UIC to begin league play. He has now notched four-straight double-double performances and his eight double-doubles are the fifth-most in the nation.
McDonald opened league play with a 24-point, 12-rebound showing in Northern Kentucky's 92-77 win over IUPUI.
For an encore, McDonald followed with 19 points and a career-high 20 rebounds against UIC, becoming just the 10
th player in NCAA Division I this year with a 20-rebound performance and the first Norse since Jim McMillan pulled down 23 caroms on Dec. 18, 1972, to accomplish the feat. The last Horizon League player with 20 or more rebounds in a game was Cleveland State's Norris Cole, who grabbed 20 boards against Youngstown State on Feb. 12, 2011.
This marks the fourth time this season and eighth time in McDonald's career that he has earned Horizon League Player of the Week distinctions. He previously collected the award on Nov. 19, Dec. 3 and Dec. 23 this season.
McDonald, the two-time Horizon League Preseason Player of the Year and two-time league first team honoree, is one of 30 candidates for the Senior CLASS Award, as well as a candidate for the Lou Henson Award presented to the nation's best mid-major player and the Naismith Hall of Fame Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award.
Northern Kentucky is 12-3 overall, its best start in the DI era, and heads to the Motor City for a Thursday-evening tilt against Oakland, which also started league play at 2-0.
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