Player of the Week: Jerome Dyson, Connecticut

Player of the Week: Jerome Dyson, Connecticut

With less than two months remaining until Selection Sunday, it’s about that time to look at every game with an eye on the NCAA Tournament. Not surprisingly, this week had dozens and dozens of games that had implications for March. As a result, we saw plenty of impressive individual performances. There was UTEP’s Randy Culpepper scoring 39 against UCF after hitting key shots in a win over Memphis earlier in the week; South Florida’s Dominique Jones dropping 46 on Providence on Saturday, while also grabbing 10 rebounds and dishing out eight assists; Jimmer Fredette of BYU putting up 33 points at San Diego State; Oklahoma State’s James Anderson averaging 28.0 points in two wins; Florida’s Erving Walker averaging 20.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 5.5 assists in two wins; Wesley Johnson of Syracuse putting up 22.0 points and 11.5 rebounds in victories over Notre Dame and Marquette; and Purdue’s JaJuan Johnson averaging 22.5 points and 9.5 rebounds to beat Illinois and Michigan.

The best player this week, however, was Connecticut guard Jerome Dyson. Heading into the week, the Huskies were in trouble.  They had lost three in a row and head coach Jim Calhoun took a leave of absence for health issues. Dyson was in an individual funk, too. He had averaged just 13.0 points in the three losses and was struggling. All of that changed this week. Dyson opened the week with 21 points, six rebounds and five assists in a 75-59 win over St. John’s. A fine performance, of course, but Dyson won this week’s honor because of his work on Saturday. In the Huskies’ upset of No. 1 Texas, the 6-4 senior went for 32 points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals. His play in the second half helped spur the come-from-behind victory.

On the week, Dyson averaged 26.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists, hitting 50 percent of his three-pointers and 54 percent from the field. For the season, Dyson is going for career highs across the board, averaging 18.8 points, 4.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game. Connecticut still needs to keep winning, although games this week against Providence and Marquette could continue the two-game streak.