Cassius Winston Named Big Ten Player of the Week
East Lansing, Mich. – Michigan State men's basketball player Cassius Winston (Detroit, Mich./University of Detroit Jesuit) was named the co-Big Ten Player of the Week on Monday, sharing the award with Minnesota's Jordan Murphy. This is the second-straight week that Winston has been named Big Ten Player of the Week, and the fourth time this season, the most of any league player this year.
Winston joins Draymond Green (2011-12) and Denzel Valentine (2015-16) as the only Spartans to earn four Big Ten Player of the Week honors in a single season.
In three games last week, Winston averaged 20.0 points, 7.3 assists and 3.3 rebounds while shooting 47.1 percent (8-of-17) from 3-point land as the Spartans played three games and won a pair against nationally-ranked opponents. He scored 23 points and handed out seven assists in a win at then-No. 19 Iowa, had 14 points and seven assists in a win at home over then-No. 13 Maryland and finished the week with 23 points, eight assists and seven rebounds at Purdue on Sunday.
Winston leads Michigan State in scoring with 18.5 points per game and in assists with 7.3 per game, while adding 2.6 rebounds and 1.1 steals. He ranks sixth in the Big Ten in scoring and leads the league with 7.4 assists, which ranks No. 4 in the country.
He is the only player in the country averaging at least 18.0 points per game, 7.0 assists per game and connecting on at least 45.0 percent of his 3-point attempts. Winston has scored at least 20 points nine times this year.
Winston is a candidate for the Bob Cousy Award, recognizing the nation's top point guard, and was also selected to the John R. Wooden® Midseason Top 25, recognizing the nation's top college player.
He has been named the Big Ten Player of the Week three previous times this season, first on Nov. 26, then on Dec. 31 and again on Jan. 21.
Michigan State, ranked No. 6 in the Associated Press poll and No. 8 in the USA Today Coaches poll, is 18-3 overall and 9-1 in the Big Ten Conference. The Spartans host Indiana on Saturday, Feb. 2 at the Breslin Center. The game will air live on ESPN at 6 p.m., with Dan Shulman, Jay Bilas and Maria Taylor calling all of the action. The ESPN College GameDay crew will broadcast live from the Breslin Center beginning at 11 a.m., with hosts Rece Davis, Jay Bilas, Seth Greenberg and Jay Williams.
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