INDIANAPOLIS (USBWA) – The U.S. Basketball Writers Association has selected James Madison guard Matt Lewis as its Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week for games ending the week of Sunday, Jan. 17.
As the Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Week, Lewis was nominated for the weekly award, which was chosen by a representative of the USBWA board of directors from a list of Division I conference players of the week. Once again, the USBWA will select a Division I men's National Player of the Week each Tuesday throughout the season. The USBWA has named Oscar Robertson National Players of the Week since the 2009-10 season.
Lewis, a 6-5 senior from Woodbridge, Va., extended his streak to 47 consecutive games with a three-pointer, hitting nine Saturday to tie a school record as part of a 30-point effort as the Dukes (6-4, 1-0) opened CAA play with an 81-72 win at Towson. The three-point streak goes back to his sophomore season and is the longest active streak in Division I. The CAA’s Preseason Player of the Year is 12 games away from cracking the all-time NCAA Division I top 10.
Lewis leads JMU and the CAA in scoring at 22.5 points per game. He was 9-of-12 from 3-point range against Towson – the nine treys are the fifth-best single-game total in CAA history – and the 30 points and his eight assists were both season highs. The Dukes made 15 treys in the game, one shy of their single-game record. In his last two games, Lewis is 15-of-20 from behind the arc, a 75 percent clip that raised his season three-point percentage to 42.3 percent.
He is the first JMU player to ever earn the National Player of the Week. The last CAA player to win the weekly honor was Hofstra’s Justin Wright-Foreman following the week of Dec. 30, 2018. JMU plays a pair of CAA games at Northeastern on Saturday and Sunday.
Since the 1958-59 season, the USBWA has named a National Player of the Year. In 1998, the award was named in honor of the University of Cincinnati Hall of Famer and two-time USBWA Player of the Year Oscar Robertson. It is the nation's oldest award and the only one named after a former player.
At the conclusion of the regular season, the USBWA will name finalists for the award, which is voted on by the entire membership.
The U.S. Basketball Writers Association was formed in 1956 at the urging of then-NCAA Executive Director Walter Byers. With some 900 members worldwide, it is one of the most influential organizations in college basketball. It has selected an All-America team since the 1956-57 season. For more information on the USBWA and the Oscar Robertson Trophy, contact executive director Malcolm Moran at 814-574-1485.