Jackson garners sixth weekly Conference USA freshman honor

IRVING, Texas – For the second straight week and sixth time this season UTSA's Jhivvan Jackson has been named the Conference USA Freshman of the Week, for the week ending Feb. 4, the league office announced Monday.
 
Jackson, who ranks as the fifth-leading freshman scorer in the nation at 19.0 points per game, was also recognized as the league's top frosh on Nov. 20, Dec. 26, Jan. 2, Jan. 8 and Jan. 29. Jackson along with teammate Keaton Wallace (Nov. 13, Dec. 4, Dec. 11) have combined to win nine of the 13 weekly C-USA freshman honors this season.
 
Moreover, Jackson is the fifth player in league history to earn at least six Conference USA Freshmen/Rookie of the Week honors since the award was instituted starting with the 2008-09 season. He joins Marcus Evans (Rice), Ricky Tarrant (Tulane), Hassan Whiteside (Marshall) and Tyreke Evans (Memphis), each of whom went on to be named C-USA Freshman of the Year.
 
Jackson, a Bayamón, Puerto Rico native, averaged 22.5 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.0 assists in leading UTSA in points, field goals made and 3-point field goals made in two wins over C-USA top-five teams Marshall and WKU. He closed the week shooting 48.8 percent overall in 32.5 minutes per outing as a starter, including a 53.6 percent clip from two and 38.5 percentage from three. The shifty rookie averaged 12.0 points on 43.5 percent shooting in the first halves as UTSA led both contests at the intermission.
 
Jackson opened the week with a game-high 23 points against Marshall on 11 total field goals to go along with three rebounds and two steals. He totaled nine points in the first half and 14 in the second, including six straight in the early stages of the period after Marshall had cut the UTSA lead to four. He sealed the UTSA win when he went the length of the floor for a layup after a Giovanni De Nicolao steal to turn UTSA's one-point lead to three with 43 seconds to play
 
He then tallied a game-high 22 points on nine buckets, including four 3-pointers, and five rebounds in the dominating win over WKU. He made his first three shot attempts (mid-range jumper and two 3-pointers) for eight points as UTSA built an early 17-5 lead on the Hilltoppers. He went on to score seven of UTSA's final 14 points of the opening half to give the Roadrunners a 12-point halftime advantage, then knocked down his fourth three of the game to open the second half's scoring.
 
Jackson has tallied three 30-point, 12 20-point (three straight) and 21 double-digit scoring performances in 24 career games. His 456 total points rank second on the UTSA freshman scoring list, trailing only UTSA great and NBA veteran Devin Brown by 27 points. He is tied for the fourth-leading scorer in C-USA at 19.0 points per outing. In addition, his 21.4 points per C-USA game rank second in the league.
 
Second-year head coach Steve Henson has now coached 13 C-USA Freshman of the Week award winners – the nine this season along with Byron Frohnen's three last season and Giovanni De Nicolao's one. UTSA had never produced a C-USA Freshman of the Week prior to Henson's arrival.
 
UTSA returns to the court Saturday, Feb. 10 at UTEP. Tipoff from the Miners' Don Haskins Center is set for 8 p.m. CT and the game will be streamed live on CUSA.tv.
 
2017-18 Conference USA Freshman of the Week Winners

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