SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Furman junior guard Jordan Lyons was named the Southern Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Week for all contests from Nov. 13-19 after matching or setting two NCAA records and leading the Paladins to a pair of overtime wins, including one over defending national champion Villanova.
Lyons grabbed the national spotlight on Thursday, going 15-for-34 from 3-point range en route to 54 points in the Paladins’ 107-67 win over North Greenville. The 15 made 3s matched the SoCon and NCAA Division I records, while his 34 attempts shattered the previous NCAA DI mark of 27. His 54 points were the most scored by a DI player since Jodie Meeks of Kentucky scored 54 in 2009.
The Peachtree City, Georgia, native followed that performance with a team-high 17 points in Furman’s 76-68, overtime win at No. 8 Villanova on Saturday. The win was Furman’s first over a ranked opponent since 1991 and represented the highest-ranked opponent the Paladins had toppled since defeating No. 4 North Carolina in 1979. The victory was also Furman’s second over a 2018 Final Four participant in eight days, as the Paladins downed Loyola Chicago on Nov. 9.
Lyons opened his week with eight points in an overtime win over Gardner-Webb on Nov. 13, hitting the tying 3-pointer with just over two minutes left in the extra frame and then getting a steal and coast-to-coast layup to put the Paladins on top to stay. He’d add a free throw to give him six of his eight points in the final 2:07 of action.
Led by Lyons’ surge, Furman is garnering votes in both the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches polls. NCAA.com writer Andy Katz named Lyons his national player of the week.
Furman, off to a 5-0 start for the first time since the 1987-88 season, hosts Southern Wesleyan on Wednesday before heading to Asheville, North Carolina, to take on UNC Asheville on Sunday.
Other nominees: Lew Stallworth (The Citadel), Jeromy Rodriguez (ETSU), Djordje Dimitrijevic (Mercer), Francis Alonso (UNCG), Ruben Guerrero (Samford), Thomas Smallwood (Chattanooga), Bubba Parham (VMI), Kameron Gibson (Western Carolina) and Fletcher Magee (Wofford).
2018-19 Southern Conference Men’s Basketball Players of the Week
Nov. 13 Josh Sharkey, Samford
Nov. 20 Jordan Lyons, Furman
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