For the second time this season, UNC Asheville freshman forward Coty Jude has been selected as the Big South Men’s Basketball Freshman of the Week.
Jude actually shared Freshman of the Week honors with Gardner-Webb’s Jose Perez. The league office made the official announcement on Monday, Feb. 4, 2019.
Jude’s honoring marks UNC Asheville’s fourth Big South Freshman of the Week honoring this season. Jude was also named Big South Freshman of the Week on Dec. 10, 2018, while DeVon Baker was selected Freshman of the Week for the league on Dec. 27, 2018 and Jan. 14, 2019.
The Fort Gay, W. Va. native led all freshmen in the Big South last week with 20.5 points per game in 39.5 minutes per game. He also averaged 5.0 rebounds and 2.5 steals per game.
Jude shot an impressive 66.7 percent (12-of-18) from the field overall in UNC Asheville’s two games. He was even more impressive from beyond the arc where he shot 9-of-13 (69.2 percent). He also connected on 72.7 percent (8-of-11) of his free throw attempts.
In UNC Asheville’s win over USC Upstate on Wednesday, Jan. 30, at Kimmel Arena, Jude finished with 17 points, three rebounds and three steals.
In UNC Asheville’s narrow overtime loss at Gardner-Webb on Saturday, Feb. 2, Jude ended his efforts with a career-best 24 points on 7-of-10 shooting. He hit five of his seven (71.4 percent) three-point attempts. Jude also had seven boards in the game.
Jude and the Bulldogs will next travel to Clinton, S.C. for a conference game at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 7 to battle the Blue Hose of Presbyterian College. UNC Asheville owns a 22-7 all-time series lead and the Bulldogs have won the last six in the series.
