Clarksville, TN – APSU Junior forward Terry Taylor has been one of, if not, the go-to players on the men’s basketball team since coming to the Austin Peay State University campus a little more than two years ago and after a week which saw him post two 30-point scoring efforts, he may be hitting his stride at the right time as Ohio Valley Conference play begins January 2nd versus Southeast Missouri.
Taylor, a native of Bowling Green, KY, opened this past week at the Dunn Center with a season-high 39-point contest versus McKendree and closed the week with a 30-point game versus Alabama State, at St. Pete Shootout after totaling 14 points versus undefeated Duquesne in Day 1 of the shootout, to give him a scoring average of 27.7 points per game this week.
Overall, this season Taylor is averaging 23.5 points per game, which is tops in the OVC by almost five points per game over Belmont’s Adam Kunkel, who is second in the conference in scoring at 18.8 points per game.
But it’s not just scoring where Taylor is getting the job done for Austin Peay State University, as he also tied for the conference in rebounding – with Eastern Illinois’ George Dixson – with 8.8 rebounds per game, while currently being second in the conference in blocked shots (1.4 per game) and tied with teammate Carlos Paez for 11th in the OVC with 1.3 steals per game.
And despite coming into every game as the opponents number one person to stop on the APSU Govs roster, Taylor is still among the best in the OVC in scoring the basketball at a high percentage, currently hitting 58.7 percent of his shots from the floor this season – seventh-best in the conference overall – including hitting a scorching 69.2 percent of his shots this season inside the 3-point arc.
And while Taylor is more than proving that his being pre-season pick as the OVC Player of the Year by the conference’s coaches and sports information directors was a solid choice, Govs fans may also want to start noticing that Taylor — with a year and a half left in his APSU career — is starting to ascend into the all-time Top 10 in several categories in APSU history.
With his 44 points scored at the St. Pete Shootout this past weekend, Taylor is just 139 points away from moving past APSU Hall of Fame member Trenton Hassell for 10th all-time in career scoring and should at his current pace move to high as fifth place all-time in scoring thus season.
Taylor should also move into the program’s all-time Top 10 this season in rebounds, field goals made, and free throws made, while already being ninth all-time in blocked shots.
