Sophomore’s sensational night earns top grade vs. Toledo

By Staff     Dec 31, 2013

**1 – Perry Ellis -** A rough hit to the head from a Georgetown player, which resulted in a mild concussion and a bruised nerve in his neck, didn’t keep Ellis from being at his best.
He picked up six of his game-high 11 rebounds on the offensive glass and scored 21 points without turning the ball over once. Ellis runs the floor hard, which results in easy buckets and extra rebounds. He even mixed in a three-point shot during his big night and has made 3 of 6 on the year.

**2 – Naadir Tharpe -** Shook off a rough start and finished with 20 points and eight assists, to go with five turnovers. Tharpe made 4 of 5 three-pointers, boosting his season long-range percentage to .429. Made 7 of 8 field goals and played with strong confidence in every aspect of the game.

**3 – Andrew Wiggins -** Held Rian Pearson, a 16.6 points-per-game scorer, to 10 points with strong defensive effort. Also scored 20 points on 7-of-14 shooting, but made just 1 of 4 three-pointers.

**4 – Joel Embiid -** It didn’t seem as if he played one of his stronger games and still he produced 14 points, 10 rebounds, three blocked shots and two assists. Also had three turnovers. You have to love how he looks so disappointed in himself when he disappoints his coach. Impressed Toledo coach Tod Kowalczyk with his demeanor and talent. The coach summed him up in one word: “Special.”
Wiggins said of Embiid: “Even when you think he’s not playing good he’s playing good. He affects the game in so many different ways it’s unbelievable.”

**5 – Frank Mason -** Threaded the needle with beautiful passes ranging from long, on-the-money deliveries, to bounce passes on the fly to a nice lob to Wiggins in transition. Ran the team well during his 23 minutes and had seven assists and one turnover. Fearless competitor.

**6 – Wayne Selden, Jr.-** Mixed sloppy turnovers with nice post feeds during and up-and-down night. Scored eight points and had three assists and four turnovers, one of which probably should have gone to Tharpe.

**7 – Jamari Traylor -** Is refining nicely a move that leaves slower defenders helpless. Facing the basket, he ball-fakes left, takes a quick, long stride right, and a couple of bounces is later is going in for an uncontested dunk or layup. In nine productive minutes, he produced four points, three rebounds, an assist and a steal.

**8 – Tarik Black -** Toledo’s leading scorer on the night, sophomore center Nathan Boothe, scored nine of his 15 points during the seven minutes Black guarded him. Black did produce four points and three offensive rebounds during his seven minutes.

**9 – Brannen Greene -** Picked up a rebound in five minutes, all of which came in the first half.

**SEASON STANDINGS**

Joel Embiid 114

Andrew Wiggins 108

Perry Ellis 108

Frank Mason 85

Wayne Selden Jr. 83

Naadir Tharpe 79

Jamari Traylor 62

Tarik Black 53

Andrew White III 46

Brannen Greene 30

Landen Lucas 27

Conner Frankamp 23

Justin Wesley 2

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