Nwakamma Earns League Honors After Hawks 2-0 Week

For the second time this season, sophomore Mark Nwakamma has earned recognition by the America East Conference as the league's men's basketball Player of the Week.

The forward shares the honors with Maine's Alasdair Fraser after averaging 18 points, 4 rebounds, and 2.5 assists to lead the Hawks to a 2-0 start in conference play.

An America East All-Rookie selection last year, Nwakamma got conference play going on a tear as he turned in his third 20-plus-point game of the season, netting 23 in Hartford's 71-68 defeat of Binghamton in Wednesday's America East opener. In that game, he was almost perfect from the floor, missing just one of his eight field goal attempts.

Nwakamma, who also finished 2-of-2 from three-point land and was 7-of-8 from the charity stripe, made it an all-around performance by adding four rebounds, two assists, and a pair of blocks against the Bearcats.

On Saturday, Nwakamma reached double digits in the scoring column for the 10th time this season, scoring 13 points in UHart's 77-74 victory at Boston University. His 5-of-8 shooting effort helped the Hawks score their first win over the Terriers in Beantown since 2002.

A 45.5-percent shooter on the year, Nwakamma, who also earned Player-of-the-Week honors on Nov. 26, is averaging a team-best 13.1 points per game and is among the league's top 15 in scoring, rebounding (5.3-per game), field-goal percentage, steals (1.7 per game) and blocked shots (1.1 per-game)

The Hawks are 2-0 in league play and 9-6 overall, marking the program's best 15-game start in 16 seasons. With nine victories, Hartford has already matched its win total from last season.