SEC announces Players of the Week for Week 5 of the college basketball season

Five weeks down and a whole lot more to go in the college basketball season. Conference play is still around the bend, but the SEC is keeping tabs on who the best players in the league are throughout non-conference play. This past week, the SEC excelled on the basketball court, with several teams and players making their mark on the national scene.

So, without further distractions or digressions, here were the top performers in SEC hoops this past week, as announced by the conference.

Player of the Week: KJ Williams, F, LSU

Freshmen of the Week: Noah Clowney, F, Alabama | Nick Smith Jr., G, Arkansas

The veteran big fella out of the Mardi Gras state was a force to be reckoned with during LSU’s win over Wake Forest last week. The Tigers erased a 20-point deficit at home and wound up beating the Demon Deacons, 72-70. And Matt McMahon’s club rode their senior star during the comeback, with Williams posting 35 points and 10 rebounds. A monstrous double-double to push the Tigers through to 8-1 on the year.

Another big fella, and a far less experienced one, Alabama’s Noah Clowney, was one of two rookies to take home Freshman of the Week awards for the prior seven days’ worth of performances. The outing Clowney can hang his hat on came in Houston, where a visiting Crimson Tide squad delivered a crashing blow to the No. 1 ranked Cougars, erasing a 16-point deficit to topple the AP’s top-ranked team and leave an arena full of fans gobsmacked with shock. Clowney was a grown man down low to help turn the tide, going for 16 and 11.

The other youngster worthy of recognition for last week is Arkansas’ Nick Smith. He was injured to start the season and missed the team’s eventful Maui run. But he’s back and letting the nation know, having averaged north of 21 points per outing in two games last week.

So two first-year phenoms and an old bull putting his horns down and lifting his team to victory. Those are your top SEC performers from Week 5.