SAN ANTONIO – UTSA freshman DJ Richards has been named the C-USA Freshman of the Week for the second consecutive week the league office announced on Monday afternoon.
After becoming the first Roadrunner to earn a C-USA Freshman of the Week honor since 2018, Richards joins UTSA legends Jhivvan Jackson and Keaton Wallace as back-to-back winners of the award. Jackson holds the school record for most consecutive Freshman of the Week honors with three, spanning from December 26 to January 8 during the 2017-18 campaign.
Richards earns the honor after posting consecutive 12-point outings against Utah, who is receiving votes, and in the win over Bethune-Cookman. Against Utah, Richards played the second-most minutes of any Roadrunner with 29 and went 5-10 from the field with two triples as he was also the team's second-leading scorer. Against Bethune-Cookman, Richards was even more efficient from the field, going 5-7 with another pair of three-balls to go along with four boards.
A native of Houston, Richards has knocked down a three in all 11 contests on the year. He leads the team in three-point percentage, knocking down the long ball at a 41.4% clip. Richards is the fourth-highest scorer on the team, averaging 9.5 points per contest.
Richards has now started each of the last four games for the Roadrunners after being the sixth man for the first seven contests. He is averaging the fourth-most minutes per game and is also third on the team in rebounding, averaging 4.2 boards a game.
Richards is the fifth Roadrunner to ever earn C-USA Freshman of the Week honors, joining the likes of Byron Frohnen (3x winner), the aforementioned Jackson (7x winner) and Wallace (3x winner) as well as Giovanni De Nicolao.
Richards, as well as Rice's Quincy Olivari, became the first repeat winners of the weekly awards this season.
2022 Conference USA Weekly Awards
Player of the Week
N14 Luke Frampton, WKU
N21 Alijah Martin, Florida Atlantic
N28 Jordan Walker, UAB
D5 Quincy Olivari, Rice
D12 Dayvion McKnight, WKU
D19 Quincy Olivari, Rice
Freshman of the Week
N14 Jordan Crawford, LA Tech
N21 Dashon Gittens, FIU
N28 Mekhi Mason, Rice
D5 Nick Boyd, Florida Atlantic
D12 DJ Richards, UTSA
D19 DJ Richards, UTSA
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