Gators’ Rueben Chinyelu Earns Naismith Player of Week
Florida Gators center Rueben Chinyelu was named Naismith Player of the Week on Monday.
Chinyelu’s accolade comes off surreal performances against the South Carolina Gamecocks and Alabama Crimson Tide. He had two double-doubles, with 14 points and 11 rebounds in their outing against the Gamecocks and 14 points and 17 rebounds against the Tide.
On Sunday against Alabama, Chinyelu was matched up against former G League center Charles Bediako and held him to six points. On the Gators’ last defensive possession of the first half, Chinyelu switched onto Alabama guard Labaron Philon on the perimeter in what Alabama believed to be a mismatch. He stopped him on a drive attempt and forced a pass.
In the same possession, Alabama ran another high ball screen where Chinyelu was matched up one-on-one with guard Latrell Wrightsell Jr. and forced a shot clock violation.
“Although that possession turns into a shot-clock violation, it is really more valuable than that,” head coach Todd Golden said. “It gets the crowd in the game, it gets the momentum and was just a huge play for us.”
Chinyelu has been a major part of Florida success this season. Chinyelu is ranked in the top four among Division I players in rebounds per game with 11.4 rebounds per game and third in total rebounds with 248. He also ranks sixth in offensive rebounding.
He has 13 double-doubles on the season, sitting fifth in Gators history for the single-season record.
“I think you can argue he is the best defender in America,” Golden said.
Chinyelu not only gets the job done on defense, but he’ also is’s also tenacious in the paint. Although Florida has been inefficient in scoring the ball from the arc, Chinyelu has been a huge reason for its presence down low.
He is shooting 61.9% from the field and shot a perfect 100% against South Carolina. He also went 6-for-7 from the free-throw line against Alabama.
The Gators had 72 points in the paint against Alabama, becoming the first SEC team in more than 20 seasons to score 70 or more in high-major basketball.
Chinyelu and the Gators aim to continue their success Saturday in College Station against Texas A&M.
Category: Feature Sports News, Gator Sports, Gators Men's Basketball
