NC State Newsstand: Saniya Rivers makes midseason Wooden Award list
NC State point guard Saniya Rivers took a leap from her sophomore to her junior season. Coming off of an ACC sixth player of the year award, the Wolfpack star has now established herself as one of the nation’s top playmakers.
The Wooden Award, given out to the best player in country each season, recognized 25 athletes who are leading candidates to take home the award this season this week. Rivers made the cut after averaging 12.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 2.1 steals per game this year.
She ranks second on the Pack in scoring, third in rebounding and leads the team in both assists and steals per game. The star junior, who missed 3 games this year due to a back injury, took on the starting job with ease after emerging into that role down the stretch of the 2022-2023 season and is now receiving national recognition.
Rivers played the best game of her season in the second contest of the fall, dominating against UConn, the No. 2 team in the country at the time. She scored a career-high 33 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, dished out 5 assists, blocked 3 shots and swiped 3 steals.
In addition to her statistical contributions, Rivers clearly provides a calming presence to the court at point guard and, even when she is not scoring in double figures, finds ways to impact the game through defense, passing and rebounding.
The Los Angeles Athletic Club will select 15 finalists for the award later this season before a group of voters selects the Wooden Award All-America team, announced during the elite eight, and the Wooden Award winner, which will be given out following the NCAA Tournament.
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NC State quote of the day
This quote is from Wolfpack freshman guard Laci Steele, discussing the Pack’s response to a heartbreaking loss to Virginia Tech over the weekend.
“As a team, it definitely hurt, losing in such a close game,” Steele said after the UVA win. “And I think we all just came back to practice and worked on what we should have done in that game, and we applied it in this game for sure.”
