Monday, January 16, 2012

For the second time this season, Valparaiso junior Kevin Van Wijk (Hoofddorp, Netherlands/Katholieke Scholengemeenschap Hoofddorp) has been named the Horizon League Player of the Week after putting together back-to-back career-high scoring outputs in a pair of league wins this past weekend.

Van Wijk started the weekend by surpassing his previous career high of 22 points with a 23-point effort in the Crusaders’ win over Youngstown State on Friday evening.  The junior went 7-of-14 from the floor and 9-of-11 from the free throw line in the victory, also chipping in seven rebounds and a pair of blocked shots.

Van Wijk then followed up on Sunday afternoon with another strong performance, starting out hot with three of Valpo’s first four baskets en route to a 10-of-13 effort from the floor in the Crusaders’ victory over Cleveland State.  Re-entering the game with four fouls and 8:48 to play, Van Wijk scored nine of his 23 points in the final stretch without fouling out, helping Valpo overcome a four-point deficit to earn the six-point win.  He also added five rebounds and a season-best three blocked shots in the win.

For the week, Van Wijk scored 46 points in 48 minutes of action, shooting 17-of-27 (.630) from the floor to maintain his spot among the nation’s most accurate shooters.  He also averaged 6.0 rebounds and 2.5 blocked shots per game.  Van Wijk and the Crusaders return to action Thursday evening at Loyola.