The Big Ten Conference announced today that Purdue's A.J. Hammons has won the player of the week award. This is the first such award A.J. Hammons has received and the first such award Purdue has received since 2/27/2012. The last player to win this for Purdue? None other than Robbie Hummel. Hammons earned the award despite playing just one game during the week. Boy was it a big one though. Not that any of you need a reminder but let's take a look at A.J. Hammons production during Thursday's game against the hated Hoosiers.
- Hammons played 28 minutes. He split time with Isaac Haas pretty evenly. This is important to note just how great he played.
- 8-9 from the floor with numerous thunder dunks.
- 4-5 from the free throw line including the game sealing free throws that prevented IU from even tying the game.
- 4 rebounds
- 4 blocks
- 1 steal
- 20 total points
I don't need to tell you what a monster performance this was. It's nice to see Hammons get the recognition he rightfully deserves. It's been a tough road for Purdue to gain respect and legitimacy due to the past couple seasons. Hopefully, this is the beginning of a turnaround from a media perspective. There's also a little nugget at the bottom of the Coaches poll you all might be interested in.