NJIT sophomore
Zach Cooks was named ASUN Co-Player of the Week for Nov. 19-25), as announced by conference officials today. Cooks, who shared honors with Lipscomb senior Garrison Mathews.
In receiving this honor for the first time in his career, Cooks becomes the seventh Highlander player all-time to earn the ASUN Player of the Week award.
Cooks was the driving force behind the Highlanders earning a pair of road victories this past week. On Tuesday against reigning NEC regular-season champion Wagner College, the Lawrenceville, Ga., native scored a game-high-tying 22 points with a game-high and career-high-tying five steals in guiding NJIT to a 71-60 come-from-behind victory at Spiro Sports Center.
Against reigning NEC champion LIU Brooklyn four days later, Cooks posted a team-high 22 points with a game-high three steals to pace a 77-70 victory at Steinberg Wellness Center. He also added five rebounds and a team-high-tying three assists in the defeat of the Blackbirds.
For the week, the unanimous 2018 ASUN All-Freshmen selection averaged 22.0 points per game on 52-percent (13-for-25) shooting while registering 3.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 4.0 steals per game. Impressively, he played all 40 minutes in each of the two victories.
Cooks now leads the team and ranks third in the ASUN in scoring at 17.4 ppg. He also leads the conference at 3.1 spg and ranks second in the nation with 22 thefts -- trailing only Brian Beard Jr. (25) of Florida International University. Despite his five-foot-nine frame, the product of Berkmar High School paces NJIT with 34 rebounds to go along with a team-high 16 assists.
