Yarbrough sweeps weekly MVC awards for second time

Posted on January 2, 2018
Malik Yarbrough led the Redbirds with 29 points and 10 rebounds in Sunday’s overtime win over Indiana State. (Photo courtesy GoRedbirds.com)

By WJBC Staff

NORMAL – Illinois State junior Milik Yarbrough has swept the Missouri Valley Conference Player and Newcomer of the Week Awards for the second time this season. The sweep ties an MVC record for most such sweeps in a season, along with current Missouri State senior Alize Johnson.

Against Indiana State, he scored a game-high 29 points with 10 rebounds, four assists, three blocks, and three steals against Indiana State. He made 9-of-19 shots from the field, 2-of-5 from long range, and 9-of-13 from the charity stripe. The points were one off of his career-high, the rebounds tied a season-high, and the steals and blocks were new career-bests.

The Newcomer of the Week honor is Yarbrough’s third consecutive such award this season. That is tied for the second-most consecutive such honors in MVC history, as only Doug McDermott ran together more (four). He is also tied for the 10th-most Newcomer of the Week honors in MVC history with three.

This season Yarbrough is averaging 18.1 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 4.4 assists per game, and is currently the only player in the MVC to rank inside of the top-10 in all three categories.

The Redbirds travel to Des Moines, Iowa, to take on the Drake Bulldogs on Wednesday, January 3, in a 7 p.m. tip-off.

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