APSU Sports Information
Brentwood, TN – Dynamic low-post duo Averyl Ugba and Terry Taylor, of the Austin Peay State University men’s basketball team, have been named adidas® Ohio Valley Conference Men’s Basketball Newcomer and Freshman of the Week, respectively.
Ugba’s sixth Newcomer honor of the season, and fifth in the last six weeks, comes on the heels of a week that saw him average a double-double (15.5 ppg, 12.0 rpg) in wins against Eastern Kentucky and Morehead State as the Govs remained unbeaten (6-0) at home in league play.
He was one of six Govs in double figures against Eastern Kentucky, narrowly missing a double-double with 13 points and nine rebounds while adding four blocked shots—most by a Gov in 2017-18.
The Silver Spring, Maryland native was a one-man wrecking crew in Saturday’s win against Morehead State, putting up 11 points and 13 rebounds in the first half—he finished with 18 points and 15 boards, the most rebounds by a Governor in a single game since Chris Horton (15, March 4th, 2016 against Belmont in the OVC Tournament semifinals).
Taylor’s league-high fifth Freshman of the Week honor comes with an additional honor this week from CollegeSportsMadness.com, which named him OVC Men’s Basketball Player of the Week. He was Austin Peay’s leading scorer in both contests last week, averaging 21.0 points and 8.0 rebounds per game for the week. He posted his season’s ninth double-double (most by an Austin Peay freshman since at least the 1997-98 season). The Bowling Green native took over late, converting a three-point play with 29 seconds remaining and sinking two free-throws with 12 seconds left to preserve the win against the Colonels in Thursday’s contest.
Against Morehead State, he poured in 23 points—his season’s fifth 20-point game. He and fellow freshman Dayton Gumm combined to outscore the Eagles 18-13 by themselves over the final eight minutes to help Austin Peay run its home OVC record to 6-0.
These honors are the 12th and 13th, respectively, earned by Austin Peay men’s basketball this season. Ugba also has a Player of the Week (January 15th) honor to his credit, while Dayton Gumm also was Freshman of the Week, November 27th. It’s Austin Peay’s highest team tally in terms of weekly honors from the conference since earning 16 (one player, six newcomer, nine freshman) honors during the 2012-13 season.
The Govs hit the road this week to start a four-game trip, beginning with a 7:30pm,Thursday, February 1st visit to UT Martin.
