AP Player of the Week: Wake Forest’s Hunter Sallis stands out in big week for Demon Deacons

By The Associated Press

The Associated Press national player of the week in men’s basketball for Week 16 of the season:

HUNTER SALLIS, WAKE FOREST

The 6-foot-5 junior guard was the standout in a huge week for the Demon Deacons in their push for an NCAA Tournament bid. First came a 17-point outing with four rebounds and five assists in a blowout win against fellow bubble team Pittsburgh. Then came Saturday’s win against then-No. 8 Duke, with Sallis scoring 29 points while making 11 of 13 shots and 5 of 6 3-pointers to go with six rebounds. Sallis, the Atlantic Coast Conference player of the week, made 16 of 21 shots (.762) and 8 of 9 3s (.889) in the wins and entered Tuesday’s game against Notre Dame ranked third in the league in scoring (18.74).

RUNNER-UP

Kam Jones, Marquette. The junior guard went for a career-high 34 points in a win against DePaul, then matched that in the ensuing win against Xavier. In the two games, Jones made 23 of 32 shots (.719) and 14 of 20 3-pointers (.700) while averaging just 25.5 minutes. The Big East player of the week is the first player to score at least 34 points in consecutive Big East games since Markus Howard in 2019-20.

HONORABLE MENTION

Khalif Battle, Arkansas; Zach Edey, Purdue.

KEEP AN EYE ON

Michael Ajayi, Pepperdine. It’s been a rough year for the Waves, but the 6-foot-7 swingman is putting up quality numbers. The highlight last week was going for 30 points and 17 rebounds in a win at Pacific, and he ended the week with 12 points and 10 boards in a loss at San Francisco. The West Coast Conference player of the week is averaging 17.2 points and 9.5 rebounds while shooting 46.4% from the field and 45.5% from behind the arc, and his 15 double-doubles stood at 10th in Division I as of Tuesday afternoon.

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AP voters: Aaron Beard, Cliff Brunt, Gary B. Graves, Beth Harris, Mike Marot, John Marshall, Eric Olson, Dave Skretta, Teresa M. Walker.

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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball