Butler's Hayward, Green Bay's Tillema named Men's Basketball Co-Players of the Week
Feb. 9, 2009
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INDIANAPOLIS --- Butler University freshman forward Gordon Hayward and University of Wisconsin-Green Bay senior guard Ryan Tillema have been named Horizon League Men's Basketball Co-Players of the Week for the week ending Feb. 1.
A native of Brownsburg, Ind., Hayward averaged 17.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and 2.0 assists as the League-leading Bulldogs went 2-1 on a three-game, six-day road trip. He scored a game-high 22 points with seven rebounds in a 75-66 loss at Green Bay Feb. 2 and had 22 points and six boards in a 66-61 victory at the University of Detroit Mercy on Thursday. Hayward capped the week with nine points, seven rebounds and four assists in a 69-51 win at Wright State University Saturday, Butler's first over the Raiders at the Nutter Center since 2003.
For the week, Hayward shot 56 percent (15-of-27) from the field, including 8-of-14 from three-point range, and 88 percent (15-of-17) from the free-throw line. He current ranks fifth in the Horizon League with a team-leading 13.6 points per game and also is fifth in rebounding at 6.3 per contest.
A Randolph, Wis., native, Tillema averaged 17.5 points and 4.0 rebounds off the bench in Green Bay's victories over League-leading Butler and third-place University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 72-68 on Saturday. He scored a team-high 21 points against the Bulldogs and added 14 versus UWM as the Phoenix boosted its lead over the Panthers to two games with five League tilts remaining.
Tillema was 9-of-20 from the floor for the week and 14-of-18 from the line. For the season, Tillema is averaging 16.9 points per game. That figure would lead the League, but he has not met the minimum to be ranked after missing the first seven games of the season due to an injury. He leads the League in conference games only with 17.3 points per contest.
Butler (21-2, 12-1 Horizon League) enters the week with a one-game lead over Green Bay (19-6, 11-2) in the League standings. The Bulldogs return home this week to play host to the University of Illinois at Chicago on Friday on ESPNU (7 p.m. ET) and Loyola University Chicago on Sunday. The Phoenix, which plays five of its final six games on the road, begins the stretch with games at Youngstown State University on Thursday and Cleveland State University on Saturday.
Comprised of 10 public and private institutions of higher learning, the Horizon League is an NCAA Division I athletics conference that sponsors 19 intercollegiate championships and is headquartered in Indianapolis. The League and its member institutions aspire to teach young people, through athletic competition, the value of learning, service to others and personal responsibility.
Horizon League teams have enjoyed national success in a variety of sports in recent years, most notably in men's basketball, in which its teams have advanced to the Regional semi-finals of the NCAA Championship three times in the past six seasons.
