Castle named Big East top freshman for a school-record seventh time
Stephon Castle has built a clear separation between himself and the other Big East freshmen.
Uconn’s highly-touted guard from Covington, Georgia, was named the conference’s Freshman of the Week for a program record seventh time on Monday. Bouncing back from a disappointing fivepoint effort against Butler, Castle had 17 points in Saturday’s decisive win at Georgetown to earn the recognition for the third straight week.
Leading all Big East freshmen in points (10.9), rebounds (4.4) and assists (3.2) per game, Castle passes Alex Karaban, who was nominated six times last year, for Uconn’s most freshman of the week honors in a season.
“We’re just trying to stay composed, we know that we have a chance to do something big this year,” Castle said Saturday as the Huskies (22-2, 12-1 Big East) sit with a 2.5-game advantage for first place in the league standings.
Seton Hall’s Isaiah Coleman is the only other player to be named freshman of the week at least twice, with his two selections each coming as Castle worked through a knee injury earlier this year. Uconn’s Solo Ball, who was in the starting lineup when Castle was hurt, is one of four players to earn the nod once along with Xavier’s Lazar Djokovic, Georgetown’s Rowan Brumbaugh and Providence’s Rich Barron.
Cam Spencer, the graduate transfer who currently leads the Huskies in scoring (15.3 points per game) and has been a major reason for their first place spot in the league standings, earned his first weekly honor roll nod of the year.
Spencer, 6-foot-4 from Davidsonville, Maryland, averaged 15 points, five rebounds and five assists through Uconn’s two games last week, including a 20-point effort that led the way against Butler. He followed that with 10 points, six rebounds and seven assists against Georgetown, shooting 55.6% from the floor and 50% (6 of 12) from 3-point range over the two games.
The Rutgers transfer is currently among the top 15 of Big East players in eight different statistical categories, including: scoring (15.3 points per game), assists (3.4), steals (1.5), 3-pointers made per game (2.8), assists/turnover ratio (2.7), field goal percentage (48.8%), free throw percentage (90.9%) and 3-point percentage (45.2). Spencer’s 3-point percentage is ranked fourth nationally and his free throw percentage is eighth.
The top-ranked Huskies
complete a two-game road trip at last-place Depaul on Wednesday (9 p.m. on CBS Sports Network) before returning home and beginning a tough final stretch that starts with Marquette in Hartford on Saturday.