Penn State sophomore Danny Morrissey has been named the Big Ten Player of the Week (Jan. 8) for the first time in his career following a red-hot opening week in Big Ten play. Morrissey is the second-straight Nittany Lion to earn the weekly accolade from the conference office, joining junior Geary Claxton, who earned Player of the Week honors Jan. 1, marking the first time Penn State players have won back-to-back weekly honors since joining the conference in 1992-93.
It is the fifth time a Nittany Lion has been so honored in Coach Ed DeChellis’ four seasons and the 17th time in Penn State’s 15 seasons in the Big Ten.
Morrissey was on fire as he helped Penn State to a 26-point home win over Northwestern last Wednesday and a near miss on the road at Purdue (64-60) Saturday. The 6-foot-3 guard averaged 22.5 points per game and shot 80.0 percent from the field (16 of 20) during week. He matched his career high with six three-pointers in both games to finish 12 of 16 for a 75.0 shooting percentage from behind the arc for the week.
Against Northwestern, Morrissey went 6 of 9 from the 3-point line (66.7 percent) to finish with a career-high 24 points, while adding a team-high tying six rebounds. With the 83-57 victory over Northwestern, the Nittany Lions registered their most points in Big Ten play since 2001 and their biggest victory margin since 2000.
Morrissey closed out the week registering 21 points and a team-high four assists at Purdue. He shot 6 of 7 (85.7 percent) from the arc in that game and had a team-high four assists. Morrissey currently ranks third in the conference making 2.67 three-pointers per game and fifth in shooting 45.5 percent (40 of 88) from the arc. Halfway through Penn State’s regular season schedule, he is on pace to post top 10 single season numbers for 3-pointers made and 3-point percentage at Penn State, and is averaging a career-best 12.3 points per game to rank third on the team.
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