Wooden Watch: Week 2

Story posted November 22, 2021 in CommRadio, Sports by Dale Ostrander

The college basketball season is underway, top players in the country are starting to make their case as to why they could be the best player in the country.

Players have had several games under their belt to show off to the rest of the country and there have been many players who have stood out so far.

Here are five players to watch out for so far in the 2021-2022 season:

Ochai Agbaji

The 6-foot-5 senior entered the draft this past spring, but eventually decided to return to Kansas.

The decision to come back was wise because Agbaji is leading the country in scoring at a clip of 26.3 points per game after averaging only 14.1 points per game last year.

The All Big-12 Honorable Mention in 2021 is still early in his season, but if he keeps up this high-level of play, watch out for him towards the end of the year.

Oscar Tshiebwe

Coming off an ineligible season last year since he transferred from West Virginia to Kentucky, Tshiebwe has started out this year as a monster on the glass.

Tshiebwe is leading the country in 16.5 rebounds per game so far this year. Additionally, he has 33 offensive and 33 defensive rebounds.

It hasn’t been just domination on the boards for him, he also has been able to add 13.8 points per game with 2.0 blocks per game to show he can dominate everything around the paint.

Look for Tshiebwe to continue to bring his intangible skills to the frontcourt the whole season as his young guards tap into their potential.

Keegan Murray

Coming off an All-Big Ten Freshman Team honoree season in his freshman year at Iowa, Murray is looking to take on the scoring mantle left from Luka Garza.

He's been able to do that this year as he is averaging 25.5 points per game and 9.5 rebounds per game to carry the Iowa Hawkeyes so far this year.

Murray is getting more touches this year with Garza now being in the NBA. With his great size, frame and a better 3-point shooting percentage he has been able to make an early season impact for the Hawkeyes and his name towards the top player in the country.

Drew Timme

Timme has started off the year hot for the Gonzaga Bulldogs. He had an electric game with 37 points against Texas in a huge early season ranked battle to prove the Bulldogs still belong as a top team.

Gonzaga for the most part has had several easy mid-major schools to play that hasn’t required Timme to play big minutes this season. When the time comes Timme has shown he will be ready to lead the Bulldogs to the top.

Johnny Juzang

After the great Final Four run last year for UCLA led by Juzang he decided to come back to UCLA and see if he could improve his stock for the NBA draft.

Juzang this season is averaging 21.5 points per game and was able to help the Bruins with a big win over No. 4 ranked Villanova early in the season.

Look for Juzang to keep leading the Bruins in scoring this season and if he can bring them to a top seed in the tournament, he could be a player to watch for the Wooden Award.

 

Dale Ostrander is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email dko5097@psu.edu.