Maryland’s Coit named AP player of the week

Maryland guard David Coit is The Associated Press men’s college basketball national player of the week for Week 11.

Coit averaged 36.5 points in two games last week, including an XFINITY Center-record 43 points in a 96-73 win over Penn State. The 5-foot-11 guard nicknamed “Diggy” tied a school record with nine 3-pointers and became the first Maryland player since Gene Shue in 1952-53 to have multiple 40-point games in a season.

Coit had 30 points in the first half against the Nittany Lions and became the first Maryland player since Nick Caner-Medley in 2006 to have consecutive 30-point games after scoring 30 in a loss to Southern California. Coit shot 23 of 41 from the field and 13 of 26 from 3-point range in the two games.

The runner-up is Duke’s Cameron Boozer.

The 6-9 freshman averaged 25.5 points, 13.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.0 steals, while shooting 63.6% from the field in road wins over the ACC’s Bay Area schools. Boozer finished with 21 points, 13 rebounds and three assists in No. 5 Duke’s 71-56 victory at California. He followed with 30 points, 14 rebounds, four assists, four steals and a blocked shot in an 80-50 win over Stanford.

Boozer was the AP player of the week in Week 5 of the season.

Honorable mention goes to No. 12 Texas Tech’s JT Toppin; Wisconsin’s John Blackwell and Stony Brook’s Eric Pratt.

Keep an eye on Kent State’s Delrecco Gillespie.

The 6-8 forward averaged 8.1 points per game last season, but has become one of the nation’s best scorers this year. Gillespie has increased his scoring average to 19.8 points per game this season while grabbing 12.6 rebounds. He had 29 points and 13 rebounds in a win over Toledo last week, then finished with 20 points, 15 rebounds and five assists in a win against Buffalo. Kent State is a game behind No. 25 Miami (Ohio) in the Mid-American Conference and hosts the RedHawks on Tuesday.